Friends will be friends
by Lilybet
Summary: The Marauders enter their fifth year where they learn about the value of true friendship. Moony's first transformation with the boys, and Snape fights for his life against a ghostly version of himself. Only the Marauders can save him. JPLE
1. Under Starlight and Moonlight

**Disclaimer: The characters, places, and published events contained within this and the following chapters belong to J.K.R., no indication to the contrary is intentional.**

**Summary: It is the Marauders fifth year at Hogwarts, a time of transformations, pranks gone awry, and exams. The dark cloud is gathering, tensions are rising, and sides are chosen for good or ill.**

**A/N: Thanks go to Half-Drowned Dracula for being my beta.**

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**Friends will be Friends**

**Chapter One: Under starlight and moonlight**

The Hogwarts Express pulled into the station and unloaded its cargo of excited teenagers. As the first years were called over to take their boat ride across the lake four boys of about fifteen or sixteen made their way out of the crowd. Heading away from the station they quickly picked out a carriage from the awaiting horseless rides and climbed aboard. The black carriage, emblazoned with the shield of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, started off towards the castle in the distance.

The train of carriages made its way through a small village ablaze with light before turning through tall iron gates and up the wide road to halt in front of the towering castle. Tumbling from the dark vehicle the four boys made their way up the steps, the dark-haired boys lightly teasing the smaller of the other two.

The great hall of the castle of Hogwarts was resplendent in gold, silver, bronze, and deepest black, banner draped from the ceiling to cover the walls in the symbols of the four houses. A fierce lion for Gryffindor representing courage; a badger for Hufflepuff, strength and loyalty its aspects; the eagle of Ravenclaw the icon of intelligence and far-sight; finally the serpent of Slytherin, cunning and ambition in every coil.

Settling themselves at the four house tables were the students who had already been sorted, something that was about to happen to the first years who now made their way into the hall. The four boys, known to all as the Marauders, had all taken places at the Gryffindor table and now looked on in interest as the sorting began.

As the Sorting Hat called out the house into which the new student would be for the nest seven years of schooling cheers went up from the various tables. All of the four friends were the most vocal at the table whenever a student was sorted into Gryffindor. Then, as quickly as it was begun it was over, and Professor Dumbledore, headmaster, was standing up for his inauguration speech.

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In the Gryffindor common room long after the feast was over, the Marauders sat around the fire. Anyone new to Hogwarts would soon be told about these four; notorious pranksters and dedicated tricksters, they set traps for the unwary and made life at the school more interesting than it already was.

James Potter headed up the team, his creativity emerging in all that he did whether it be quidditch, wooing the girl of his dreams (Lily Evans, who still refused to go out with him after years of asking), or finding a way to make people laugh.

Lounged on the floor flicking through a magazine was the other dark haired member. Sirius Black was the energy behind the pranks; his boundless drive pushing the Marauders to greater heights and better pranks every year.

Remus Lupin was the conscience of the group, his moral compass tempering some of the wilder flights of fancy that they came up with. He was slumped in the softest chair looking peaky and listless in the firelight, for not only was he a wizard but for three nights a month he transformed unwillingly into a wolf – he was a werewolf, bound to the moon's cycle.

The final member of the infamous team was Peter Pettigrew. Peter was the member of the four who, though not highly creative in thinking up pranks, was very good at the execution of them. Especially when it came to getting non-Marauders involved; he was the guy who was consistently sent to lure the victim into their trap.

For them the weeks ahead held not only lessons and spells, but tricks and plans. They had the new first years to impress and scare, not to mention the feast at Hallowe'en to prepare for. But for all their joking ways they the tightest group of friends Hogwarts had seen in a while. Every one of them would willingly get detentions, if not lay their lives on the line, for each other. This was particularly the case when it came to Remus.

Ever since the other three Marauders had found out that he was a werewolf they had been wanting to be with him through the three nights when he was transformed. But because of the very real danger he presented (if he bit any human they would become like him, a werewolf) they had been unable to accompany him. But over the past year or so they had started on a project to change all that. They had set off to become Animagi; these were witches or wizards who could transform at will into the shape of the animal they were deep inside.

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The weeks passed, tricks were played, detentions were received, and the practice to become fully fledged Animagi continued. One full moon passed and they were almost there, Remus started to really worry about what would happen when they finally accompanied him. What if he harmed one of them when he was transformed? Then before he knew it, an evening came when Sirius cornered him.

"We've done it. Next time you won't be alone."

Real fear gripped Remus then, so much so that as the moon grew full he started being unable to sleep, and when he did all he dreamt of was horrific scenes of his friends dead at his feet.

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It was two nights before full moon and Remus was tossing and turning in bed. Finally he gave sleep up as a bad idea and slipping quietly out of the dorm where his friends were sleeping, he tiptoed through the silent halls of the castle till he stepped outside.

The stars shone brightly overhead like a collection of sparkling diamonds scattered across the heavens, and they lit his way as he walked over to the tree under which the Marauders could usually be found.

Lying down he sighed as he relaxed back into the soft turf, looking up through the leavers to the glassy sky above. His gaze shifted unwillingly to the waxing moon which shattered his calm mood with its harsh gaze. He sighed again more stress evident as he was stricken with his ever present worry about the days ahead.

He knew that he wouldn't be alone this time; finally his fellow Marauders had completed the transformation process. He had yet to see their Anamagi forms, and was still uncertain as to whether he agreed with their plan of accompanying him on his monthly changes. But he knew from experience that the trio, especially Sirius, would not be dissuaded from their plan. Still, he was nervous for their sake. If something went wrong, if they weren't able to control him and he hurt a student or worse one of his friends, he would never be able to forgive himself.

The wind was rising, sending clouds to cover the moon now, ruffling his hair and sending a chill down his spine.

Remus sat up, hearing footsteps on the path from the school. Looking up he saw a dark silhouette walking towards him. Standing, his hand crept towards his pocket where he had stowed his wand as he had crept out of the dorm.

The clouds passed from the moon, and its near full light shone down revealing the stranger to be a friend.

"You weren't in the dorm..." said Sirius hesitatingly

"Sorry, I couldn't sleep." Remus said

Sirius moved closer to his friend comfortingly; he knew how worried Remus was about the upcoming transformation.

"Don't worry Moony, It'll be fine"

"I just..."

"I know," Sirius paused, unsure as to whether he should reveal his own trepidation about the event,

"You just need to relax, James and I have everything covered."

As Remus caught Sirius' famous smile in the moonlight, he could feel some of the stress leaving him. This time, he remembered, he wouldn't have to face the pain alone.

"Come on Moony, lets get some sleep. James has big plans for tomorrow."

Remus raised his eyebrows in curiosity as Sirius threw his arm round the smaller boy, leading him towards the castle.

"Something to do with fireworks and a greasy haired git."

The laughter barked out into the night echoing up into the sky. It failed to disturb the crystalline stars shining their endless light down upon the pair.

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	2. Cloud and Shade

**Chapter Two: Cloud and shade**

The soft warmth of the sunlight on his face woke Remus the next morning. The light shone through the hanging round his bed making it seem like he was in a warm red cave, where nothing could disturb his peace of mind.

As he lay there looking up at the roof of his four-poster 'cave' the aches in his bones began to make themselves felt. They were beginning to prepare for their unnatural change in a few days time. Yet even that uncomfortable pain did not faze the boy.

These first few moments after waking had always been his favourite. Left with the sleepy wakefulness, anticipating all the things that he would learn in the new day, he couldn't help but feel that all was right with the world. That nothing, not even being a werewolf, could harm the day ahead.

"Morning Moony!" Sirius came bounding through the hangings to land at the foot of his bed, letting in the golden sunlight that streamed through the dorm window.

"Urgh" Remus buried his head under the covers, not wanting to get up and ruin his good mood.

The dark haired boy's exuberance was not abated however. Pulling the covers off Remus he grinned down, "Come on Moony, its a beautiful day."

"Fine," rolling out of bed Remus padded to his trunk to find clean clothes, knowing that Sirius wouldn't be denied, "I'll be down soon"

Leaving Remus to get dressed Sirius headed downstairs to the common room.

The light was flooding into the red and golden coloured room, highlighting all the polished metal making it glow. A few stragglers who were either waiting for friends before heading to breakfast, or hadn't made it to bed the night before, were scattered around the room slouched in the soft armchairs, or slumped over tables and crumpled papers.

Not seeing James or Peter, Sirius decided to wait for Remus before heading down to the great hall himself. He didn't have to wait long; within minutes of settling into one of the sofas usually occupied by all the Marauders Sirius looked up to see the lycanthrope emerge from the boys tower.

"Ready?" inquired Sirius,

Remus nodded and they both headed towards the portrait hole and the great hall.

Entering the hall they heard a muffled shout, "Remus, Sirius" James waved over the late-comers to the Gryffindor table where he was attacking a large pile of toast.

The two boys sat down and started in on their own breakfasts.

"What have we got first thing?" asked James, the sunlight shining down from the enchanted ceiling reflecting off his glasses obscuring his hazel eyes.

"Potions," responded Remus stirring sugar into his tea with one hand and reaching for milk with the other. He was too preoccupied to notice the identical grins that burst onto the faces of Sirius and James.

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The candles fluttered in the cold classroom, the only light source for the dozen students and Professor. The shadows slid from grey to black as Slughorn moved around the room checking the potions in progress. Smiling at some, questioning others, the darkness parting for him as the flames under the cauldrons produced their meagre warmth.

Remus focused on his potion, running his finger down the copied instructions again. The wrong ingredient at the wrong time and the dungeon classroom would be filled with a blaze of light, chasing the shadows from the corners for a while.

"After adding wormwood, stir slowly ten times clockwise." he murmured to himself.

Carrying out the prescribed action he became aware of the other members of the class, all at varying stages of the potion, some further ahead than others. He noted Snape's potion was already giving off the effervescent steam, a pale blue light in the ill-lit room. Glancing sideways whilst still keeping count, he saw that his best friends' potions weren't quite as advanced. Both were too busy with something blocked by Sirius' body to pay much attention to their cauldrons.

"That's it, it should work now." James' whisper drifted over, barely audible above the hissing and bubbling of the numerous concoctions.

Turning back to his instructions Remus saw James heading towards the front of the classroom, something small well hidden in his right hand. At the same time Sirius attracted the attention of Professor Slughorn by adding crushed scarab shells to his potion in large quantities. The resulting noise of heated ingredients mixing in unusual combinations was loud enough to make everyone in the room jump in shock. Professor Slughorn came over immediately to the boy's table berating him on his lack of caution.

Meanwhile James was putting the distraction to good use. He had made his way over to Snape's cauldron and whilst Snape was looking the other way he slipped the concealed object into the Slytherin's potion. He swiftly made his way back over to his potion, which was now bubbling dangerously. He nodded to Sirius his grin hidden in the shadows on his face.

As order reasserted itself in the darkened classroom Remus tried not to let the stifled laughter emerging from the primary pranksters distract him from his own lethal brew. Sirius, now without a potion to distract him, began to fold paper planes quickly amassing a small pile of the parchment provisions.

As the end of the class drew near, Remus' eyes were torn between watching Snape's cauldron and his own. He knew that something would soon occur to the black haired boy's potion; no distraction ever went unused. Sure enough, as the last ingredient was added to the cauldron a reaction began to occur. Both Sirius and James' eyes were latched to the swiftly expanding potion straining against its encircling metal.

Snape, intent on double checking his instructions, seemed completely oblivious to the impending disaster.

"Mr Snape, I hardly think your potion should be that colour." Slughorn's voice rang out, echoing slightly in the stone chamber.

The thin boy looked up in mounting horror as he took in the sight before him. But before he was able to give a reply to the Professor's inquiry the strained metal gave way with a quiet 'pop' and the now toxic potion cascaded out in a wave towards the shocked boy.

Laughter rang out as Snape tried to avoid the burning solution. James and Sirius were the first to take advantage of the boy's predicament, but shortly the whole class was in uproar as they saw the effect of the potion. Snape was now sporting a variety of coloured pustules and boils wherever the potion had come in contact with his skin. The multicoloured boy was gasping in pain as the last of the potion made it's way off the table to the floor.

"Quite down now." Slughorn's voice lifted easily over the rabble, "I think we will call an end to this class for today. Snape get yourself to the infirmary. You there, take his stuff back to his dorm"

The rest of the class packed up their things and filed out of the classroom after the unfortunate boy made his squelching way to the hospital wing. Laughter and talk filtered into the corridor, all the students talking about the incident. The Marauders made their own way out, the black haired boys congratulating themselves on another successful ploy.

Remus' thoughts were with Snape, no one should have to suffer ridicule for no reason. He wondered what life would have been like for him had the pranksters decided they didn't want to hang out with a werewolf.

"Cheer up Remus, it's not like they've done lasting damage." Sirius said

"We just want to insert some colour into his life, all that black can't be good for him." James sighed dramatically, leading the way up from the dungeons out into the sunlight.

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	3. Of Books and sunshine

**Chapter Three: Of Books and Sunshine**

"You alright Remus?" said Sirius, sitting down opposite the boy, "You look a little peaky."

"I'm not feeling too good, but what with tonight being, well, I'm surprised I'm not feeling worse." Remus replied, looking at Sirius over his book with pale eyes.

The library was practically empty, everyone who wasn't obsessed with work was enjoying the warm day outside. But Remus, as ever, had taken the opportunity of the peace of the old stacks to get his homework done. He was especially determined to get it all done whilst the sun was still up today, since he wouldn't have the chance after sunset.

"Actually Sirius, there's something I wanted to talk to you and James about."

"Oh?" Sirius looked up from his pointless flicking through a transfiguration textbook,

"It's about," Remus looked around, even though there was no one in earshot he was still cautious, "your plans tonight."

"Ah." The monosyllabic boy raised an eyebrow, "What exactly about our plans?"

"Well, I've just been having second thoughts..."

"Don't." Sirius interrupted.

Both James and himself had been wondering about the lycanthrope's reaction to the whole Animagus deal. Remus had a tendency to worry excessively about his friends well-being, especially when said well-being was being put on the line for his sake. His calm reaction when he'd been told had unnerved them slightly. It was as out of character for Remus not to question the sanity of the Marauders as it was for Snivellus to wash his hair.

"We're joining you no matter what you say." He leaned across the table to pull down the book Remus was using as a defensive wall, "You've had to face this too many times alone. We're your friends, your BEST friends, and we're not going to back down on this one, so don't even try to talk us out of it."

Remus sighed, he knew it was true; he had been alone too long. Having to face the wolf alone was one of the hardest things he ever had to do (the other being admitting his condition to his friends), and to know that he wouldn't have to go through the torturous pain alone was more of a comfort than he liked to admit.

"It's just dangerous, if I get out of control..."

"Then we get out. We've been through this, Moony." Sirius' use of his nickname made Remus realise quite how lucky he was.

To be a werewolf generally meant being alone; no friends, no real family, classified as a 'danger' to society. He was different, he had friends who were willing to put their lives on the line for him. They had come to be like his family; they made him feel better about his turning into a monster every month.

"Alright, but I don't want you, any of you, taking any unnecessary risks."

"Moony, you class every prank we do as 'risky'." Sirius pointed out, rummaging in his satchel for quill and ink.

"That's because they are." the other boy retorted, head vanishing back into his oversized book, "You will make sure Peter doesn't..." He wanted to phrase it correctly, but before he had the chance Sirius interrupted again,

"do something stupid?" Peter was well known for making mistakes and causing himself and those around him injury,

"That's not quite what I meant, but.." Remus looked at the other boy pleadingly,

"We'll look after him." Sirius said, "And how you can say that he doesn't do stupid things after that incident with the water balloons?"

Remus muffled a giggle, "I still don't know how he managed to make the water catch on fire like that, it's not like there was anything even remotely flammable within 100 yards."

"He doesn't either." Sirius grinned, glad to see the pale scholar's mood lightening.

"He doesn't what?" asked James, startling the smiling duo as he slid into the chair beside Remus.

"We were just talking about Peter and the water balloon incident." Remus explained

"Ah, yes. The image of Peter running round screaming like a girl with his head on fire still haunts my dreams." James reminisced, before pointing accusingly at Sirius "Aren't you supposed to be in detention with McGonagall?"

"I don't think so," Sirius said slowly, trying to remember if their head of house had given him a detention for this lunchtime, "I think I've done all of her detentions."

"What about the one for yesterday's lesson?" Remus inquired, knowing that out of the four Marauders Sirius was the most forgetful about his punishments, which usually resulted in him having twice as many as the rest of them, even James.

"Did she give me one?"

"Probably." responded James, who had managed to get away without one (somehow!).

"You best go along anyway." ever-rational Remus said,

"What! Go along to ol' McGonagall when I don't need to, you must be suffering worse than I thought; you've started hallucinating that I'm sensible!" Sirius looked shocked at the thought.

"Dread the day." murmured Remus under his breath, "Beside you only _might_ not need to, in fact it's highly likely that if you don't turn up at her office within five minutes she'll think up a worse punishment for you." he added, looking pointedly at the avoidant Animagus.

"Worse?"

"She could make you clean all the animal cages," James suggested, smirking as he added "by hand."

Everyone knew that Sirius would rather wrestle a troll, or be nice to Snape, before getting his hands dirty cleaning the muggle way. His face dropped at the thought, and he got up hurriedly packing his things away.

"Y'know, now that I think on it, I do believe I do have a detention now, James, thank you so much for reminding me." The last phrase coloured by sarcasm Sirius stalked out of the library.

"He can get so temperamental at times." said James turning to Remus, "I have a question for you."

Pulling himself once again out of the book he was trying to read, Remus mimicked Sirius' earlier response, "Oh?"

"Why are you in here studying when it's beautiful sunshine outside!" James exploded, he had never been able to fathom the other boy's interest in studying incessantly, but if he had to he could at least do it where James would be able to spy on Lily.

"Because there are more books here?!"

"No. That is not a suitable answer." James shook his head in despair, this called for action, "_You_ are coming with me."

On that note he started gathering the quiet boy's things up into his satchel, and completely ignoring Remus' pleas walked out of the library calling over his shoulder as he went.

"If you want to see your work again I'll be outside, in the s_unshine_."

After looking despairingly after his vanishing work Remus closed his book and followed forlornly. It looked like he wouldn't be getting any of his homework done today, not if his friends had any say in the matter.

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	4. A Journey into darkness

**Chapter Four: Journey into darkness**

Whistling through the chinks and cracks in the stonework the rising wind sent shivers down Remus' aching spine as he made his way to the infirmary. Every month he would meet Madam Pomfrey who walked him down to the Whomping willow so that he could make his way to a place of relative safety before he transformed.

He shivered again; his bones had been itching all day reminding him that went the sun went down the wolf would come out. Entering the hospital wing with its rows of neatly made beds, some with students suffering from colds or curses tucked into them, Remus looked around for the kindly matron.

Spotting her office door ajar, and noting that she wasn't in the ward, Remus walked past empty beds and suffering students alike. Knocking, he opened the door wider revealing the bustling matron hard at work making up the potent concoctions which had healed so many pupils.

"Good evening, Madam Pomfrey." He said politely,

"Remus," she said turning, "I was wondering when you would arrive. Take a seat and we'll leave in a minute, I just want to get this potion stabilised."

Sitting down, Remus observed the near sterile nature of the mediwitch's sanctum, reflecting her devotion to the care and healing of the sick. Quite a contrast to some of the other professors offices; each with their own style reflecting the personality of their occupants. Some, like Professor McGonagall, had fairly formal offices with only one or two personal photos and keepsakes. Other offices, Professor Slughorn's being a prime example, were littered with the accumulated memorabilia of an active or dedicated life.

"There. Shall we make our way down?" Madam Pomfrey's voice brought Remus out of his revery.

Nodding he stood and, with the older witch by his side, made his way out of the infirmary.

"How have you been feeling today my dear?" she asked,

"A little sore, but not more than usual"

Looking at the quiet boy holding himself carefully as he made his way to spending another night undergoing the painful transformation, Poppy experienced her usual feeling of sympathy and awe at the way that he was able to cope with being a werewolf so well at such a young age.

"Are you sure? I notice you are limping a little. Has the wound from last time fully healed?"

"It's fine, thank you." Remus hated admitting how much the transformations cost him, even to the witch who had healed some of the worst self-inflicted wounds.

They passed through the front entrance and out into the grounds. The wind had picked up substantially from the light breeze there had been earlier. Heading over to the dangerous tree which guarded the entrance to the tunnel it seemed as if the willow could be swaying in the breeze, until you looked closer and saw that it moved against the wind as well as with it. Wrapping their cloaks around themselves the pair made their way across the sunset lit grass.

As they reached the tree Remus' heightened senses noted the scent he associated with the Marauders. Knowing that they would be hidden under James' invisibility cloak he didn't bother trying to spot them, even though pre-transformation his senses were so heightened that he could have spotted a mouse in the darkness. A quick glance at Madam Pomfrey told him that she had no idea that there was anyone else out in the semi-darkness other than them.

Pulling out her wand she pointed it at the violent tree, which seemed to have realised that they were there and was trying to decapitate them with it's flailing branches.

"Stupefy." The tree's movement ceased as the spell hit it,

"Quickly now Remus." Poppy encouraged the boy forward before the spell wore off, 'I will be waiting for you at dawn as usual.'

"Thank you."

Heading forward, Remus avoided the frozen branches and without a backwards glance he slipped through the hole at the base of the tree.

xxxxxx

The three boys huddled beneath the cloak staying just out of the reach of the maddened tree's thrashing limbs. Watching Remus vanishing into the darkness at the base of the tree, they waited shivering in the wind for Madam Pomfrey to head back to her patients.

"Come on, let's join him." James said as she entered the castle, pulling off the cloak revealing them to anyone foolish enough to be out in the steadily growing wind.

"Pete? You ready?" Sirius inquired of the smaller boy huddled in his cloak against the cold.

"No." he replied shortly,

"Pete, we've been over this. You can do it, you've done it before." James said impatiently,

"Inside, under controlled conditions. This is different." whined the boy,

"Come on Pete. If you don't change, he'll have to go through it alone again like he did last month. We swore that would be the last time." The plea from Sirius reached him, making him recall the number of times Remus had saved him from the wrath of the pair when he screwed up a prank. Letting down the Marauder who was most concerned with his welfare wasn't an option he cared to take.

"Alright." he said, screwing up his courage.

Stepping a little way from the other boys he shrugged off his cloak. An intense look of concentration screwed up his face as he focused on the image of his Animagus form. Sirius and James fidgeted waiting as moments passed in the cold. Then with a weird sticky sound the features of a rat formed on Peter's face. Swiftly they overtook his own; his nose growing more pointed, ears moving to the top of his head, and his whole body shrinking before their eyes. Soon the boy was gone and in his place was a large brown rat sniffing at the air.

"Genius." muttered Sirius, shivering both at the cold and the stomach turning sight of a friend changing form.

"Nice work, Pete." James felt silly addressing a rat, even if that rat had recently been a human, "I don't suppose you could deal with that tree so we can get inside?"

The sight of a rat nodding had to be one of the stranger sights the pair had seen in their five years at Hogwarts. Scurrying off the rat slipped unnoticed by the willow till he reached a knot near the base of the tree. Pressing it with his front paws, the tree stilled allowing the humans access to the tunnel which Remus had entered.

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	5. Where the wolf howls

**Chapter Five: Where the Wolf howls**

Emerging from the tunnel a grim sight met the boys' eyes. The house they found themselves in was rotting away, with the residue of magic holding it together, decrepit wood and floral wallpaper pealing away from the walls, it did not seem to be a place where anyone would look for shelter. But there sitting on the stairs, half hidden behind the still intact banisters, was a pale shaking boy. Remus' eyes went wide as he saw the rat scrabble up onto the floorboards from the earth tunnel, his burning instinct to attack fighting against the knowledge of his friends arrival. Following the small mammal were two tousled heads wearing near identical expressions of nervousness and excitement.

"Hey Moony? You alright there?" Sirius said,

"W-W-Where's Pete?" Remus stuttered, shivering with the tension in his body.

Before either of the lads could reply there was a sickly sound like bones snapping wetly into place and from the rat that had been sniffing round on the floor shot up the podgy figure of Pettigrew. Remus yelped like the canine he was, as the grins on James and Sirius' faces grew larger.

"Mpf!" he barked pointing a wavering finger at the now human Pete.

"Yep. Brilliant isn't it?" James responded,

"I can't believe you really did it. Don't you know..."

Remus' words were cut short as the dark haired lads shrugged off their cloaks and spread out. Concentrated looks appeared on both their faces, looking very strange on the pair who avoiding studying like the plague. Slowly the two began to transform with the same sickly sound as Pete.

James' image wavered and became larger as antlers began to sprout from his head, his arms elongating to reach the floor. Sirius, on the other hand, became smaller and fur rippled across his face and body, his ears sliding up his head. Soon instead of two humans, a deep-fawn coloured deer and a black hound stood across from the amber eyed boy.

Mouth hanging open in shock Remus watched as the stag slowly came up to him, putting his hand out nervously the beautiful animal nuzzled at his palm.

"That's amazing." Awe resonating in each word Remus forget where he was for a few moments, revelling in the emotions.

Suddenly the transformation gripped him and he bent over in agony, crying out in pain and fear. Pete's expression swiftly changed from joy and excitement at the successful transformation of his friends, to fear at being stuck in a room with a dangerous soon to be werewolf no matter that it was his friend whom he trusted.

"R-R-Remus?" he stuttered, concerned about what he could to, looking round helplessly.

"You should change." Remus grunted out as the transformation took over his body. Gripping the wall for support he ran into the front room not looking back to see if Pete took his advice. The stag and hound shared a concerned look before both bounded after the werewolf.

They entered into the front room which was scratched from ceiling to floor by previous transformations. Vile wallpaper was shredded under the inch long claws sprouting from Remus' fingertips, whilst from his facial bones elongating with sickening crunches emerged a muzzle. Growling in fear, anger, and pain as the rest of the transformation ripped through his body Remus' eyes turned from amber to gold and back as he fought to keep his mind; the rush of animal drives washing every conscious thought from him.

The watching animals, Pete now back in his rat form, saw as the wolf took complete control of their friend. The creature had finishing transforming and in front of them now stood an animal which bore only a faint resemblance to the hound which Sirius had become. Gray and black fur rippled over powerful shoulders, long arms ending with wicked claws scratched at the floor digging into the soft wood. It stood at twice the size of Sirius' form when on all fours and as it reared up to howl the nervous animagi estimated its height at over seven foot. It's mouth was filed with teeth, the sharp canines jutting over the bottom lip like a sabre-tooth tiger's.

Turning its head the newly transformed werewolf snarled at the quivering animals sharing its space. Slowly one of them approached the fierce creature and attempted to show that it meant no harm. Sniffing the creature, the werewolf determined that this one wasn't prey. But the scent was confusing; it smelt familiar, yet the werewolf had not encountered this animal before. The werewolf growled, unsure what it's response should be. Looking up it stepped forwards to examine the other animals; there were two, one small prey which smelt of fear exclusively, and the other a larger prey animal, worthy of the hunt. It smelt less of fear and more of the hunt, the chase which would be exhilarating.

Turning its attention back to the creature at its feet the werewolf attempted to identify the scent which so confused it. It felt as if it were a scent which belonged to the other part of itself; growling again it turned away. To think of the other self caused the werewolf pain and it lashed a paw out at the wall scoring it deeply, the fear smell increased in the room as it did so. Turning it's thoughts inwards the wolf an image floated to the surface of it's mind. A friend, with dark wavy hair and a strong smell of family. Pack. That's what the non-prey animal was.

Dropping on to all fours the wolf barked a greeting at the hound. In response the hound's tail wagged once, and he barked in return. Then the hound stood up and walked back towards the prey. Growling the wolf wanted the pack member to return to its side rather than putting itself in danger. The larger prey was not just prey, it was dangerous. But the hound seemed comfortable with the prey, not attacking it, yet not being attacked by it.

The situation was too confusing for the animal drives of the wolf. Lashing out it tore into the building that encased it, trapping it in away from the woods and the hunt. Not content with destroying the building the wolf began to tear into itself, trying to get free of the other self, so that it wouldn't have to change back, so that it could find a way out of this prison.

Seeing the damage that the wolf - their friend – was doing to itself the transformed James leaped into action. Knowing that the wolf regarded him as prey he danced close enough for the werewolf to scent him fully. As its head snapped up the deer moved just out of the range of its powerful jaws. The wolf moved towards him clearly undecided on whether it was worth attacking. James danced in again, tempting the wolf to attack. With the scent of venison filling his world the wolf lunged, just in time the transformed wizard moved out of the way and proceeded to lead the wolf on a merry chase around the shack. Hot on the wolf's heels was the hound, both keeping an eye on how close the werewolf was to catching his friend and enjoying the chase himself. A scampering rat – the transformed Pete – acted as a second distraction whenever the wolf got too close for comfort to the stag's haunches by nipping at the werewolf's heels.

The night wore on and soon the wolf tired out, sagging to the floor with its tongue hanging out and panting wildly. The hound placed itself in a submissive position at its feet but Sirius too was exhausted and glad of the rest. The werewolf looked up at the stag on its trembling legs and acknowledged its speed and stamina; few animals could best a werewolf in a chase. These creatures which had mysteriously appeared had held his attention away from the other self for a long time and the wolf was glad of that, and of the fact that he had found a member of his pack in the form of the hound, even the prey smelt of something close to the pack smell. Knowing that there was nowhere that the prey could go to hide the werewolf allowed himself to relax a little.

At that moment the early dawn began to creep over the edge of the world, spinning its web of light in through the cracks in the walls of the shack. As it touched the werewolf the transformation process began again. The animagi moved back as shakes racked the body of the still slumbering wolf, but instead of the painful, bone wrenching, agony of before, the transformation from wolf to human was a slow gentle process. The excess hair fell away and dissolved in the light as the over-stretched bones were sucked back into the body of the exhausted boy. Soon Remus lay in tatters of his robes on the floor of the shack.

The rest of the boys reversed their own transformations and soon the Marauders, collapsed in the master bedroom of the house, were back in their human forms again.

"Well, that was fun." Sirius said from where he was sprawled over the bed.

"Heh." was all the response James made to the statement.

"He's certainly got a hell of a lot of energy."

"You weren't the one being chased."

A groan from the floor made the boys turn to Remus. The lanky boy was slowly turning over as he woke up.

"You alright there Remus?" asked the concerned and exhausted Pete,

"Sore. Confused. Tired." the bulletpointed list was grunted out between more groans as he sat up.

"You and the rest of us, mate." said James as he heaved himself to a sitting position, "You remember much about last night?"

"I had dreams about something that kept trying to get away from me. No matter how hard I tried I just couldn't quite catch it." Remus said, looking down so he missed the looks passed between his fellow pranksters. Laughter criss-crossed the room startling him, "What?"

"Nothing." howled Sirius.

"I didn't hurt anyone did I?" the worry in Remus' voice brought everyone back down to earth.

"No. Everything went fine." Sirius fell off the bed in a heap, landing as close as he could to his friend, "We should have been here sooner for you."

Remus ducked his head trying to hide his embarrassment, "I never got to say," he remarked when he felt his cheeks no longer burning, "You guys were amazing. Your forms..."

"I know! Brilliant isn't it!" James crowed, "I can't wait till next month, when we've had more time to plan. I can just see the fun now..." with a dreamy look on his face James drifted off into his wild imagination.

"I could wait." muttered Remus drawing a smile from Sirius.

"Um. Guys? It's almost 8o'clock, we should probably head back." Pete mentioned.

"Yikes."

The boys tore downstairs as fast as their tired limbs would carry them. As James threw the invisibility cloak over the three animagi Remus asked again: "What were you guys laughing about before?"

Sirius' large grin couldn't been seen underneath the cloak, but his voice emerged out of nowhere to say: "Lets just say that James will be losing a lot of weight over the next few months!"

"Hey!" James' voice indignantly uttered.

The sounds of laughter and scuffled fighting could be heard disappearing down the earthen tunnel as Remus raced after his friends shouting whilst holding his sides to stop them splitting with his own laughter. Half way down he stopped and leaned against the wall completely breathless, hands on his knees and shaking his head. With friends like those who needed enemies?

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**Next: Halloween Madness ensues. **


	6. Of Herbs and Flowers

**Chapter Six: Herbs and Flowers**

The next day had dawned very early it seemed to the Marauders. After making it back safely to the dorm Peter had taken off for the infirmary since one of them always met up with Remus after these nights, and they didn't want to give the game away. James and Sirius wandered slowly down to the Great Hall for a much needed breakfast, all that running had used up a lot of energy.

"Sirius?"

"Yes."

"I've been thinking."

"Merlin forbid," muttered Sirius,

"And I think flowers."

"Flowers?!"

"Well, more of a shower of petals really."

"Sometimes, James, the things that go in that head of yours confuse even me."

"For Lily," James explained, a hurt look on his face, "A petal shower during transfiguration for Lily."

"Ohh. Well that makes more sense. If you, Lily, and sense can every make it into one sentence."

They walked along in silence for a moment, the patches of sunlight streaming through the cloister arches making the dust dance in the air.

"So?" asked James as they turned down a set of stairs to the main entrance.

"So what?"

"So how am I going to manage it?"

"Remus." stated Sirius with finality.

"Now _you're_ confusing _me_."

"Remus said that he had created a pure red rose for his mum on his parent's anniversary. If he can manage that he should be able to tell you how to produce a few measly petals." explained Sirius, walking into the great hall.

"It's not a few _measly_ petals! It's going to be a whole shower of beautiful soft petals falling down a the feet of the radiant goddess known as Lily Evans." James hissed, taking his seat next to Remus and across from Sirius and Peter at the Gryffindor table.

"How did you manage to set him off so early in the day?" inquired Remus, jerking his thumb at the lovestruck boy, a small smile on his face showing how grateful he was for their normality.

"He did it all by himself." Sirius reached for the coffee and poured himself a cup, "So, what are our plans for this fine day?"

"Flower petal shower." muttered James through his toast.

Ignoring the sullen James, Remus answered Sirius' question, "I thought we might attend a few lessons on how to do magic. In which you would take your own notes and let me look out the window instead."

"But Sirius never takes notes," squeaked Peter.

"He's right," Sirius agreed, sipping carefully at his coffee, "I will _never_ take notes, not even if Snivellus wears pink for a whole day."

"Which may be a fantastic idea, but first," James butted in, swallowing the last of his toast, "Flower petal shower."

"What _are_ you talking about?" Remus asked,

"He wants to shower Lily with petals in transfiguration." explicated Sirius as James nodded excitedly.

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"He said you could help. Will you help me Remus, darling?" James attempted to flutter his eyelashes, and succeeded in looking a bit drunk.

"Fine. Anything to stop you doing that." Remus said with a smile.

He thought for a moment whilst muttering under his breath. Then with a swish of his wand and a short spell a rose appeared in his hand, before vanishing and being replaced with petals.

"Right," he said with confidence, "You know that transfiguration movement for plants? Well, add a flick upwards at the end."

"And the spell?" James asked, as he practised the movement.

"_Genero flosculus_. Then just add the Latin name of whatever flower you want the petals to come from. Remind me why I do this for you again?"

"Because I let you give me the run around?" James teased lightly,

"On that note." Sirius proclaimed, "I have been thinking."

"Oh no!" yelped Peter, in the traditional response.

Sirius beckoned the others in close so that he could lower his voice below the level of noise in the hall.

"Our dearest furry friend has a name by which he goes by in times of hairiness," he nearly whispered, "But we, my friends, do not. We must rectify this situation."

"You're right." James said in mock awe, before sliding into seriousness, "I suggest we each come up with a list of possible names for each other and ourselves. We shall reconvene at lunch."

The bell for morning classes interrupted their talk and all the four raced for their first class, Peter still stuffing toast into his mouth, and James muttering none-too-quietly about having done enough running for one lifetime.

xxxxxx

"Today we will be continuing with the change from animate into inanimate. You have your owls, I expect at least some opera glasses by the time the bell rings." Professor McGonagall said as soon as all the class had settled in their seats.

The Marauders set to, starting with quick silencing spells on their owls. The birds were wonderful for delivering post, but tended to be very noisy when being transfigured. They could also deliver nasty bites as Peter had discovered last lesson.

In between failed attempts at transfiguring Sirius could be seen scribbling down ideas for names, whilst being prodded by Remus every now and again as McGonagall headed towards their table at which point he started to prod his unfortunate owl.

As the lesson progressed the noise levels grew in the classroom, with the students and owls both getting frustrated with continued failed transfigurations. Being stuck as half owl, half opera glasses was no fun for the dignified birds. But the rising numbers of panicking mammals gave James the perfect chance to practice the spell for Lily, and when the bell finally rang he was ready.

"_Genero flosculus nerium oleander_." he uttered, pointing his wand at the ceiling above Lily.

As he did so Remus gave him a horrified look before looking sharply at Lily. Before long she was not only annoyed at James (her cry of "Potter!" shut the owls up for a second), but starting to scratch her skin wherever the purple petals touched her. Remus leapt across the room and grabbed Professor McGonagall who was telling off James.

"It's Oleander! Rose-bay!" he shouted, trying to be heard over the cacophony, "Poisonous."

"Oh Merlin." cried McGonagall, and with a wave of her wand stopped the falling petals, "Infirmary Miss Evans, now."

Crying as the sap irritating her skin got into her eyes Lily fled the room followed by her friends.

"Mr. Potter!"

"I know," said James, both afraid for Lily and despondently, "Detention."

"For a month."

"A month!"

"Yes. Class dismissed."

As the remaining class filed out the other Marauders surrounded James.

"What happened?" asked Peter.

"I don't know," James sagged against the wall outside the classroom, "Do you think she'll be alright?"

"If she is she's never going to forgive you." Sirius mentioned unhelpfully, patting James' arm as he did.

"She should be fine. But why on earth did you shower her with Rose-bay petals?" Remus said, giving Sirius a small glare.

"I didn't mean to!"

"Then what went wrong?"

"I wrote this down a couple of nights ago when I had the idea of flowers. You were busy refusing to leave the library so I did my own research." said James, handing over a scrap of parchment.

The note read:

_Latin names_

_Roses - Nerium oleander_

_NOT Rose-bay (Rosa) – Poisonous!!!_

"Erm, James. You wrote them down the wrong way." Sirius said, reading over Remus' shoulder, "Roses are _Rosa_, not Rose-bay."

The last thing anyone was expected at this point, as James went pale faced, was Remus to start laughing so hard that he had to hold himself up by leaning on the nearby wall.

"I should never have..." he started to gasp between laughs before collapsing again.

The other Marauders looked at each other in confusion at the normally sane werewolf's behaviour, well sane for most of the month at any rate. They even began to wonder if that time he'd run into the wall of the shack as he'd been turning a corner, whilst chasing the stag-James, had done more damage than they'd thought.

"Erm. Remus? Care to share the joke?" asked Sirius casually.

Gasping Remus slowly pulled himself together as the four boys started heading to their next class. It wasn't until they had almost reached the queue for Charms that he was able to speak without giggling however.

"Ready to tell us what's so funny?" inquired James, getting a little fed up at not being told the joke.

"I keep telling you to make notes so that you stop getting detention, yes?"

"Yes... but what does that have to do with..."

"The one time you do make notes you still get detention, and poison Lily in the bargain!"

"Does this mean you're going to stop telling us to make notes?" Sirius half begged.

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	7. Repercussions

**Disclaimer: Still ain't mine. Just so you know.**

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**Chapter Seven: Repercussions**

Lunchtime rolled around and there was no sign of the Marauders in the great hall. Instead they were all hovering outside the infirmary, waiting to see how Lily was doing and how she would curse James this time.

"Where is she? Why won't Pomfrey let us see her?" James complained to no-one in particular, as he tapped incessantly on the ground with his foot.

Sirius was leaning against the wall trying to read over Remus' shoulder and getting irritated when the pages weren't being turned. Sighing he looked over at James, and tried to compose some sort of answer which would calm his friend.

"She's probably fine. And Pomfrey probably just sick of seeing our faces, we do end up here an awful lot."

"That's too many probablys."

Sirius shrugged and went back to his sneaky reading, he knew far too well that when Lily was involved James was impossible to deal with.

Remus flicked over a page, judging that Sirius had had enough time to read it. He wasn't really reading, he was too worried about his friend.

Lily had been one of his closer friends since a time in second year when, in a fit of despair at their actions, he had abandoned his fellow Marauder's company for a whole week. Whilst he was hiding out in the library (the only place in the castle Sirius wouldn't stay for more than five minutes) they had struck up a conversation about the futility of arguing with the trio about pranking, and ever since they had been sharing notes and having in depth conversations about obscure topics.

Things had changed a little during third year when Lily, now having a monthly cycle of her own, had figured out that Remus did not visit a sick relative every month, but instead he visited a run down shack in Hogsmeade where he underwent his monthly transformation.

From their numerous conversations he had quickly come to understand that the last thing Lily would want to be confronted with when she came out was the very person who was responsible for her visit to the infirmary.

"Maybe you guys should head off. Peter's looking a little peaky, and lunch is almost over." he suggested,

"I like that idea." muttered Peter, but wasn't heard under the denial from James.

"I'm not leaving," James responded stubbornly, "I'm the one who injured her. I should at least try to apologise, even if she does curse my head off."

Sirius heard the small sigh escape Remus and was reminded that though they had all had a long night, Remus still had two more nights of pain ahead of him. If they were to be with him again tonight they needed to keep up their strength.

He pushed himself off the wall and went over to where Peter was sitting, and hauled the small boy to his feet.

"Well we're going. Lunch and those names beckon, I've a good long list of possibilities. I'm sure myself and Peter can sort out something suitable for you, Jamie-boy." he said, hoping that the goading might work.

"If it's anything female I'll have your head, Mr. Black." James warned.

Seeing that the messy haired boy wasn't going anywhere, Sirius and Peter started off for the Great Hall.

"We'll see." Sirius threw over his shoulder before they vanished round a corner.

xxxxxx

The castle seemed strangely quiet with all the students and teachers having lunch in the great hall, yet in the infirmary there were still the noises of Madam Pomfrey caring for her variously injured students.

Lily looked over at the girl in the next bed; she had purple smoke rings escaping from her ears whenever she giggled, which was nearly constantly. A cheering charm gone seriously awry by the sounds of things.

On her other side an empty bed lay between herself and the next patient, a seventh year Hufflepuff, who was levitating slightly off the bed with an intense look of concentration on his face, his feet and hands changing places every few seconds. Lily wondered whether his concentration was due to trying to undo whatever spell had backfired, or just trying to ignore the discomfort he must be in.

A pale blue figure interposed itself between her and the Hufflepuff, glancing up she smiled at the infirmary witch.

"Well, Miss Evans, you seem to have recovered nicely from this morning's accident. Do try not to come back too soon." said Madam Pomfrey kindly.

"I don't think it's me you should be saying that to," muttered Lily as she climbed out of bed.

"Hmm, yes." the witch frowned, "I think Mr. Potter needs more than a few detentions, the number of students he's put in my infirmary."

"I'm sure he doesn't mean any harm," Lily said, startling both herself and Pomfrey in her defence of the Marauder, "Thank you, Madam Pomfrey."

Lily almost ran to the door, though whether she was trying to escape the look of surprise that the Medi-witch had given her or the heat creeping up her cheeks she didn't know.

"Oh, Miss Evans?"

"Yes, Madam Pomfrey?" Lily replied nervously,

"Do be careful my dear."

Lily closed the door to the ward behind her, the small smile on her face for the Matron's concern relieving the embarrassment at defending _James Potter_. But her good mood was quickly broken as she spotted both her good friend Remus reading, and James pitifully slumped, on the floor by the door. Quickly she recalled exactly what the good-for-nothing had done that very morning, along with a half dozen other occasions he had done something to attract her attention only to end up with her in Pomfrey's care.

"Remus? You didn't have to wait for me." she commented, steadfastly ignoring the messy haired boy.

"Lily? Are you alright? No lasting damage?" James jumped up and practically pleaded her to give him a good report on her health, "I'm really sorry for what happened, I really am. I didn't mean to do that. It was supposed to be..."

The red head ignored him and went over to where Remus was slowly getting to his feet.

"Did I miss much in Charms?" she asked, interrupting James' flow of apology.

"Um." Remus glanced over at James before replying, "Not really, we were just covering Banishing Charms again. You are okay aren't you?"

"Good. I'm fine, famished though. Have I missed lunch?" Lily linked her arm through Remus', and started walking him away from the infirmary and James.

Remus looked back over his shoulder at the abandoned boy before stuttering that lunch wasn't over and that he was hungry too.

James watched the pair head off down the corridor before sighing heavily to himself, and with his hand stuck in his pockets following after at a reasonable distance.

"At least she didn't curse me," he mused.

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**Next: How did they become Messers Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. Review and you might find out faster.**


	8. What's in a name?

**Chapter Eight: What's in a name?**

"Right, do you have your list?" Sirius asked as the pair sat down at the Gryffindor table.

Pete nodded, pulling a rumpled piece of parchment out of his pocket. He waved it in Sirius' direction whilst reaching over to grab a chunk of bread. The taller boy grabbed from his hand and placed it on the table next to his own list of names. Scanning quickly down it he dipped his spoon absentmindedly into the soup which had appeared before him.

"Fido?!" he spurted, glaring at Peter, "_Fido?_ Do I look like a 'Fido' to you?"

"Sometimes." Peter smirked, calmly buttering his bread.

"And what's this? Whiskers? Tell me that one's a suggestion for your name, not mine."

"I know it's not very good, but I decided that listing parts might be a good place to start. That's why you'll also find antlers on there. For James." Peter clarified before layering cheese, meat, bread, more cheese and a solitary tomato on top of his buttered piece.

"I'm guessing that at some point you turned into a walking thesaurus and that's why after 'antler' you've got..." Sirius peered at Peter's list of possible animagi names trying to decipher the cramped handwriting, "horn, spike, point, prong, and...oh hey I bet James'll like this one...knob."

Sirius' face split in two at the thought of telling his best friend that the name his noble stag form would be going by would be 'Knob'.

"I also did you as well." Peter said, biting down on his double decker sandwich.

"So you did. But if you ever try to call me 'Mutt' I will have to eat you." threatened Sirius,

"Mutt sounds like a good name for you, Black." sneered Snape, who had overheard the comment as he entered the Great Hall, "What's this, got tired of the names I call you and your little friends, so decided to come up with some more?"

Sirius quickly shoved the papers at Peter to get them out of the reach of the Slytherin, then he turned to face him.

"What do you want, Snivellus? Aren't you supposed to be bothering someone else, or washing your hair?" he rejoined,

"Not that it'd do any good." chimed in Peter, stuffing the papers out of sight.

Snape just sneered at the pair, unwilling to do anything more serious when there were teachers present, "At least I didn't poison my girlfriend, oh wait, she's never said yes to him has she? Probably never will if he kills her off. Catch you later, Mutt."

Sirius started up to go hex the face off the irritating snake, but as he did a hand pushed him back down into his seat. Remus sat down next to him, Lily on his other side, and gave him a pointed look.

"He's just baiting you. You'd just be giving him what he wants." he rationalised.

"Plus I'd have to remove points." Lily added, "Besides, I'm fine. Even if Potter did try to kill me."

The three boys all shared looks as they tried to decide who would be the one to stick up for James this time. After raised eyebrows (by Remus), pitiful looks (by Peter), and a badly aimed kick (Sirius hurriedly muttering an apology to a third year who then looked petrified that _Sirius Black_ had apologised), it was concluded that Sirius would be the one to try to convince the red head not to curse James in new and unusual ways.

"Ev...Lily." Sirius began, catching the girl's attention straight away with his use of her first name, "You're absolutely right. James was a prat, but then again he's always a prat. I know that he really messed up this time but he really does like you, and I'm sure when he finally gets here he'll tell you just how sorry he is. He never meant to poison you."

Lily looked surprised at Sirius' honesty, normally one of the three boys would just stick up for James.

"In fact, I fully endorse you getting back at him with a prank of your own." continued Sirius, "Though don't tell him I said that, otherwise I'll be ending up with snakes in my bed again for a week."

The boy shuddered, a pet hate of his was snakes; a fact that James took advantage of once to often for his liking.

A curious look came over Lily's face, though she had been pranked many a time by the four Marauders she had never retaliated in kind. She had always taken the stance that pranks were juvenile and stupid, and the possibility of her committing one had been as likely as the twinkle vanishing from Dumbledore's eyes. But now that James had gone one step too far, and that his friends were supporting her in this, Lily's mind began to whirr with ideas.

"I'll get back to you on that," she mused, getting up to sit with her other friends further down the table.

There was relative silence between the three as they contemplated what they had just set loose on the world. Then Peter, still nibbling at lunch, pulled out the papers that had been hastily stuffed out of view of Snape. Setting them on the table he starting looking over Sirius' ideas for nicknames for their animagi forms.

"Are those the name suggestions?" asked Remus,

"Yeah, you should see some of the ideas that Peter's come up with."

"What about yours, Remus? Did you get a chance to think of anything?" inquired Peter, as he crossed off a name from Sirius' list, following it up with muttering about stupid ideas.

"I did, but I don't know if they're any good." Remus blushed lightly, "I've never been very good at this sort of thing."

"Let's take a look." Sirius demanded, reaching for the nervous boy's bag.

But before be could find the sheet the afternoon bell went off signalling the end of lunch and the beginning of another set of classes. Sighing Sirius decided to tackle the note-stuffed bag later, and together the three headed off to Herbology.

xxxxxx

James dragged his feet as he headed down the stairs after Lily and Remus, he wasn't planning on catching up with them. He figured that the best thing to do right now was leave the fiery girl alone for a while, and then surprising her somehow – hopefully next time without landing her in the hospital wing. He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice that he'd reached the Great Hall till he almost bumped into Sirius and the others leaving.

"You alright there, mate?"

"Huh?" James looked up unseeingly at his best friend's question, "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. What have we got now?"

"Well unless they've decided to put Peter back on a broom, we've got Herbology." Remus stated, as the four of them headed out into the October wind.

Wrapping their cloaks tightly around themselves they battled their way to the greenhouses, slipping inside out of the wind as soon as they could. Once inside they set down their bags and tried to guess which plant Professor Sprout would be attacking them with this lesson.

"I've got Sirius and Peter's lists, I just need yours then I can put them all on one sheet." Remus whispered, under the cover of repotting the Snapping Violets.

"Lists?" James murmured back, as he struggled with a Violet that had decided to latch onto his finger.

"Name lists." shot Sirius from his other side, who was holding a Violet gingerly by its root ball, keeping his fingers well away from the snapping flower.

"Oh, those lists. Right...yes...I'll...give them to you...Gotcha." he declared triumphantly as he removed the Violet from his finger and stuffed it into the pot.

"Careful Mr. Potter, those Snapping Violets are quite delicate." called Professor Sprout.

"So are my fingers," muttered the boy.

xxxxxx

Lessons were over for the day, dinner had been eaten, and now the Marauders were sitting round the fire in the Gryffindor common room debating whether the Falmouth Falcons or Pride of Portree were more likely to win the next league match.

"That may be the case, but I think you're forgetting that the Falcons are on Nimbus 1500's. The Prides will never even see them coming, I mean what are they on? Shooting Stars?" gibed Sirius.

Peter scowled at the grin on his opponents face, "You know as well as I do that they're on Cleansweep Four's. The best brooms out there."

"What?! You have got to be kidding me." James laughed, "I know that the Cleansweep's are good, but they're not _that_ good."

"Says the boy who's using one in House matches." Peter returned,

"That's hardly the point."

"Why not? If it's not good enough for the Prides, then..." Peter left the sentence dangling dangerously.

"Ooo, I think he's got you there, Jamie-boy." Sirius taunted, "Best quidditch player in our year and all."

"Enough." interjected Remus softly, "How about you go get that list, James. Then we can work on those names before moon rise."

A shadow came over the other boys as Remus alluded to his second night of transformation, and the night of the true full moon. The few times they had managed to prise information out of him about it, he had always said that this night was the worst.

"Sure." replied James, getting up to search for the piece of paper.

"He okay?" Remus asked of Sirius as the spectacled boy headed up the stairs to the dorm.

Sirius watched as James vanished out of sight before answering, "I think so. Bit of a shock to the system that's all. He should come bouncing back before long." Sirius hesitated, "How's Evans?"

"Fine." Remus replied pensively, "I think this time took them both by surprise."

"Those two are as bad as each other."

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	9. All Hallow's eve

**Chapter Nine: All Hallow's Eve**

Time passed in the usual manner – in chunks and fragments, always moving faster when deadlines were looming and slower when detentions were being suffered. Lily seemed to forgive James his mistake, though the fact that he had to walk around with pink clothes for two weeks might have helped (Remus refused to admit that he had any part of that, even after his chocolate supplies were mysteriously vanished).

The boys had all joined Remus for the remaining two nights of transformations, and were well on their way to plans to get the werewolf out of the shack and into the wide world where there would be more room to run.

Then, as though the author couldn't be bothered writing the interim, Hallowe'en was upon them.

The western world prepared itself for a night of spooky going's on. Parents were put the finishing touches to costumes of witches and devils ready for small children to scare little old ladies out of a lot of sweets. Teenagers stocked up on eggs and flour for those who were less than forthcoming with the treats.

But in the castle in the far north of the British Isles the students of this little known school were preparing themselves in a quite different way. They had no need to dress up in costumes, pretending to be magical beings, not when they were all in training to become fully fledged witches and wizards. Instead of getting ready for a night of trick or treating they were preparing for a celebration of a more magical nature.

Hallowe'en, as the Muggles knew it, was originally the festival of Samhain; the time when the old year died and the new year began. And as the year changed the boundary between the world of the living and the land of the dead faded; for one night the dead truly haunted the living.

So the students of Hogwarts put up the Jack o' lanterns, and created scary images but instead of scaring little old ladies they were designed to scare away the evil spirits who were going to be abroad that night. At the same time the magical new year was about to begin and that deserved a feast.

xxxxxx

"I can't believe they're making us work on Hallowe'en!" exclaimed Sirius, notorious prankster of Hogwarts.

"It is a weekday." said Remus, the patient near-sane member of the quartet trooping down the hall towards their first class of the day.

"I don't care." Sirius said pointedly, "It's still Hallowe'en, there's pranks to be planned. How can we plan if we're working."

"You seem to manage normally."

"That's not the point Remus," interrupted James Potter, the informal leader of the gang, "Hallowe'en and work just aren't supposed to go together."

"Thank you, James." Sirius took on an expounding air, "You see Moony, it's all about the essence of the festival that approaches us tonight. It is concerned with..." but whatever the dark-haired boy thought the holiday was concerned with was interrupted by James' elbow digging into his side. Giving the elbower an aggrieved look Sirius followed the gaze of his compatriot in pranking.

There, waiting outside the potions classroom door with the rest of the class, was a skinny sallow faced young man, his hair dark and greasy; the name of this unfortunate looking individual was Severus Snape. He was so engrossed in reading one of the many potions textbooks in his arms that he had failed to notice the approach of the Marauders.

"Time for a little pranking before class, Mr. Hound?" whispered James, trying out one of the possible nicknames for the boy's Animagus form.

"I'd say so, Mr. Spike." Sirius replied in an undertone, before shaking his head at the name of the week.

Leaving Remus and Peter behind the two boys crept upon the unsuspecting individual. Remus shook his head in disapproval but knew that it was futile to try to stop them – the sooner it was over the better in his experience. Peter Pettigrew, the last and smallest member of the pranking team, looked on with excitement; though he tended not to take an active role in the pranks he did enjoy a good show.

At ten feet away Snape finally noticed the two sneaking boys and dived for his bag at his feet, but before he could pull his wand from its depths James had flourished his wand and pulled off an impressive Bat Bogey Hex, whilst Sirius' "_Aquamenti!_" filled Snape's shoes with water. Snape fell to the floor struggling with the bat wings which had broken out all over his face.

It was at this point, as the elated pair and the rest of the corridor chucked in mirth, that Professor Slughorn, potions master, decided to come out of his classroom.

"What is going on out here?" he enquired, "Oh. Is that young Mr. Snape under those wings? Well, off to the infirmary with you my lad. In you come boys. No use dawdling out here, not when there's potions to be brewed."

Following in after the rotund man the Marauders took up their usual seats at the back of the room.

"Why, dear Sirius, did you fill his shoes with water?" asked James, torn between exasperation and confusion.

"Because," explained Sirius, pulling out his textbook, "I made it into a permanent charm. He'll be squelching round all day."

Grinning cheerfully Sirius opened his book randomly and tried to look as if he was interested in what the potions master was saying.

xxxxx

Severus poked gingerly at his face, Madam Pomfrey had done a marvellous job at reversing the hex but his complexion was not much improved from its treatment; blotches of red now marred his skin. He'd missed most of potions because of those Idiot's stupid prank, and the lessons he missed always seemed to be the ones that came up on exams. Sighing he hefted his bag and headed wetly upstairs to his next class, luckily it wasn't with the Morons so he wasn't in danger of having his whole day ruined.

Skipping over a missing stair he noticed the Bloody Baron hovering at the top of the flight; he looked a little more substantial than usual, but then it was Hallowe'en.

"Baron," he acknowledged as he passed.

"I'd watch out for mirrors today." rasped the phantom.

Surprised at getting a response from the normally taciturn spectre Severus only managed a stumbled, "Thank you," before the Baron drifted through a wall.

"Watch out for mirrors?" the nerdy boy muttered to himself as he continued his journey, "What sort of a warning is that? Mirrors?"

xxxxx

Barely two minutes after the lunch gong the great hall was filled with hungry bodies, the last few stragglers from the outer reaches of the castle the only ones still filtering into the sky-roofed hall. Tables groaned under the weight of feeding the hundreds of students, each sorted into their respective houses.

At the Gryffindor table the Marauders ate quickly; they had other things to do with their lunchtime. Around them their fellow housemates questioned them on what prank they'd be pulling off _this_ Hallowe'en; for the last four years the four boys had come up with increasingly spectacular pranks to celebrate the turning of the magical year. After last year's helping the whole house was expecting something big.

"I do hope you're not going to give into these idiots and do something stupid again this year?" asked a stubborn red-head by the name of Lily Evans.

"Lily! How are you this wonderful day?" James drooled between sandwiches.

Ignoring the spectacled boy Lily looked pointedly at Sirius, she knew that he was the one she needed to convince if she was to have a normal day since James would probably agree to whatever she wanted out of principle.

"Evans, we can't not do something," Sirius responded, "See this lot?" he indicated the horde of questioners, "They're expecting. It's practically a tradition."

"Then it's a bad tradition." Lily argued, "Black, you can't honest find scaring the majority of the school a fun pastime."

"Why not?"

"Because..."

"See!" interrupted the grinning Marauder, "You can't come up with a good reason. Besides, are you suggesting that no one laughs at our tasteful magical spectacles?"

There was a muffled laugh from the other fifth year boys as they tried to fit 'tasteful' and their pranks into the same box. Lily gave a grimace, remembering the last time the four had pranked the school. The professors had been dealing with the effects of the expanded levitating charm for a while; whilst still trying to conduct lessons with floating books, tables, and students.

"Remus?" she pleaded, turning to the one member of the team that might inject a bit of sanity to the argument.

"Sorry, Lily. This time I'm going to have to side with them." Remus replied apologetically, "The positive effects usually outweigh the negative, after all."

Sighing deeply knowing that all hope of an uneventful Hallowe'en had gone out the window, Lily gave one of her patented glares to the four, "If anyone gets hurt from this, it'll be your blood I'm after." Turning she headed back to the group of fifth year girls at the other end of the table.

"Will you go out with me?" shouted James as she walked away.

Lily merely flicked her wand in reply, and the jug of pumpkin juice on the table promptly emptied itself over James' head.

"I think that's a 'No'" said Remus consolingly to the dripping boy.

Over on the Slytherin table Severus was also eating quickly, but not out of any urge to prank. Instead he wanted to head over to the library; his usual haunt. Grabbing a bacon buttie he made his way out of the great hall, leaving wet footprints as he went; sadly a permanent charm was nothing anyone could do anything about.

Eating his sandwich en route he stopped off at the bathroom, and as he was washing his hands he happened to glance in the mirror. With the Baron's warning still ringing in the back of his mind he was a little more prepared for the sight that met him. Instead of his usual visage a ghostly figure stared back at him; it was almost a perfect reflection of his features expect for the fact that he could see right through himself. Disbelieving, he reached out to make sure that it was a reflection he was seeing; the cold glass of the mirror met his fingertips firmly.

"Black and Potter," he sneered, the ghostly figure replicating the action, "Their Hallowe'en prank. Hmph."

Finishing his ablutions he made his way out of the bathroom, trying to convince himself that he was no more than mildly disconcerted by seeing a ghostly version of himself. As he rounded the corner of the corridor to the library Severus caught sight of the figure of Peter Pettigrew muttering with pointed wand at the last window. Severus tried to creep closer to hear what he was saying, but the squelching of his waterlogged shoes gave him away. Pettigrew looked up like a startled rodent and fled round a corner.

Hesitatingly Severus made his way up to the innocent looking window, and sure enough there was his ghostly counterpart staring back at him. Quickly he hurried back to the library door and, casting a glare back at the offending window, vanished inside.

* * *

**Bah, you know what to do by now.**


	10. Unexpected Events

**Chapter Ten: Unexpected Events**

Ann Morgan hurried towards the girls bathroom on the third floor; as a prefect she was used to dealing with the aftermath of one of the Marauder's pranks, but the response to this one was far beyond the normal level of anxiety. She'd dealt with seven inconsolable girls from different years, all of whom refused to say what was wrong, all since lunchtime, and by the sounds of distress ahead of her she'd be taking care of more before dinner.

Meeting up with another female prefect – Lily Evans of Gryffindor – she felt ready to confront whatever she found.

"Do you know what's going on?" she asked Lily.

"Just because I share a house with them doesn't mean I know what they're up to." retorted the red head, "Though when I catch up with them I'll be giving them a piece of my mind."

Ann grinned before opening the door. A group of five girls was sat shaking and crying at the far end of the bathroom.

"Hey, what's wrong?" she soothed, "Whatever it is you can tell us."

The two walked towards the girls, past the cubicles on their right and the sinks on their left. Ann was about halfway down before a light touch on her arm stopped her.

"Erm, Ann?"

"Lily?"

"Look at the mirrors." Lily spoke in a monotone, as if she was keeping a tight lid on any response to what she saw.

Turning, Ann glanced at the mirrors before looking away. Then her brain caught up with her eyes and she stared at the image facing her in the slightly dirty mirrors. Her ghostly image stared back at her, the long dark hair flowing freely round its skeletal features. As her eyes met her reflection's she heard a scream, it seemed to go on and on like the foundations of the world were being broken.

A sharp sting across her face made Ann realise that _she_ was the one screaming. Abruptly she snapped her mouth shut and wrenched her eyes away from the reflection. Shuddering she felt Lily's arms wrap round her in comfort.

"You're alright. It's okay. It can't harm you." Lily murmured into her ear, "It's just a stupid trick those idiots have played."

"Sorry." whispered Ann, taking a few deep breaths, "I'm alright now. Thanks."

The two prefects went over to the group of first years and tried to comfort them whilst getting them up and out of the room, away from the strange reflections. Gently they got the girls up to the infirmary where Madam Pomfrey was muttering under her breath about jokes which weren't funny and various ways of exacting retribution on the perpetrators.

Hurrying away, Lily and Ann rushed toward the Charms classroom where the rest of the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor fifth years were waiting. The class was just going in, but even if she couldn't speak her mind Lily still managed to send a ferocious glare in the direction of the Marauders.

"What do you think that...thing was?" questioned Ann nervously whilst Professor Flitwick went into detail about growing charms.

"I don't know," replied Lily, "But before the feast I'll corner them and put a stop to it, one way or another."

"You're the only one they seem to listen to. I mean, look at them, they're not even paying attention to Professor Flitwick."

True to form the four boys known as the Marauders were not trying to turn their bonsai into a three foot tall tree, but instead Peter and Remus had ganged up on Sirius and were in the process of making his hair grow a full foot in length.

"They're so juvenile." commented Bethany, another Ravenclaw.

"I guess that's what happens when they don't keep their brains in their heads," Lily sighed, a sly grin on her face.

The rest of the girls burst out laughing, prompting a reprimand from the Professor and odd looks from the male half of the class.

"I wish I could be there when you 'talk' to them about the mirrors." Ann mentioned, knowing that it would probably happen in the Gryffindor common room.

"Are you going to do something about that?" asked Bethany,

"I love the way that everyone thinks they're _my_ responsibility," moaned Lily, "But yes, I am going to be having words with whichever one I can corner first."

"That would be a sight worth seeing," Bethany commented, adding "Whoops!" as her bonsai shot up to a six foot tall pine tree with few needles but plenty of trunk.

xxxxxx

The sun was sinking below the horizon before James Potter, broom in hand, made his way back from a gruelling Quidditch practice. Tired and windblown he could barely focus enough to walk straight let alone engage his brain. A nice long shower and food would set him right, but it was not to be as he was suddenly accosted by the last person he expected: the girl of his dreams.

"James Potter. What have you done?" hands on hips Lily was showing the temper her red hair insisted on.

As tired as he was James' brain failed to come up with it's usual witty retort and fell back on talking like a normal human.

"What do you mean, Lily?" he sighed, "There are many things I've done which you would object to, and plenty of things you think were my fault as well."

Lily found herself uncertain of what to say. Her normal encounters with James usually started and ended in the same way; with him asking her out.

"I mean, _Potter_, the mirrors. What have you done to the mirrors?"

"Oh. Those." James said, shifting his broom from one aching shoulder to the other.

"Yes, _those._ I've been comforting students all day because of those...things you've put in there."

"Actually, Lily, I didn't put them there. We merely found the spell to let them be seen. They were always there." James smirked, "Now if you don't mind, I need a good shower before the spectacular feast."

James walked past a slightly stunned Lily, determined not to turn round and ask the question which he already knew the answer to.

"Aren't you going to ask me out?"

Shocked James halted in his progress up the main stairs, "Do you want me to?" he asked a little timidly.

"I, er, kinda got used to it." Lily admitted,

"Are you going to say no?"

"Probably."

"Then will you at least hit me with an Aquamenti when I've asked?" James inquired, knowing that if he was going to get cursed he could at least start his shower now.

Lily shrugged, it seemed the least she could do to get rid of the weird feeling in her stomach, which she hoped was due to having a half decent conversation with Potter rather than anything else.

"Will you go out with me?" James asked, trying to put an ounce of lightness into his dead tired tone.

"No, I certainly will not. _Aquamenti!_" Lily retorted.

The pair nodded to each other, both slightly confused at what had just happened, and walked off in opposite directions.

xxxxxx

Rubbing his head with a towel James emerged from the quidditch teams bathroom, especially designed to handle the mud and general grime which any decent player picked up. Outside were waiting the other three Marauders.

"About time. How long does it take you?" Sirius complained.

"Only half as long as you." the slightly damp boy replied, sticking his tongue out, "Now can we please get on with this; I'm starving!"

Together the four trooped down to the entrance hall and peaked inside the Great Hall. Decked out in it's Hallowe'en glory, with six giant pumpkins lit from inside spread around the walls and fiery red banners adorning the walls, the hall was magnificent. For this year a dance area had been provided in the middle with the promise that after the meal the students could let off some steam.

Stopping just outside Peter checked to see if all the students and staff were present, "I think that's all of them." he whispered.

"On the count of three then," Remus said, "One, two, three."

As the last number was called all four boys pointed their wands at the great hall and started to mutter in synchrony. As they concluded the noise level in the hall rose perceptibly, under the cover of the confusion the four slipped in unnoticed and seated themselves at a nearby round table.

Every reflective surface in the hall now showed the ghoulish spectres that people had been encountering every time they looked in a mirror. Some of the girls had burst into tears, and a fair few guys had gone a little pale.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. Please! Settle down." Dumbledore, present headmaster of Hogwarts, rose from his place at the staff table, "Now although it is Samhain, the night where the line between living and dead is blurred, I can assure you that these reflections are nothing more than very creative illusions..."

On the word 'illusions' a mist started forming over the tables, and within a few short seconds it had begun to form into discernible shapes. In front of every individual was their ghostly reflection, no longer confined to the two-dimensional world of the mirror these forms showed some of the mannerism of their breathing counterparts. A number of the students stood up trying to escape their personal ghost, but the spectre simply followed them.

Soon the whole hall was filled with two cohorts of students and staff: one living, one made of mist. Then, at the sound of a golden horn, the ghosts of Hogwarts came soaring into the hall; Nearly Headless Nick, the Gray Lady, Bloody Baron, all of the spectres from the castle's past. They descended in a spiral until they had reached the centre of the hall.

The mirror images gathered around the actual spirits and all bowed to each other. Then, with the spectres of Hogwarts leading, they started to dance. Music started up out of nowhere and soon the whole dance space was filled with twirling near-transparent people, taking each other first in a Scottish Reel, then a Waltz. As they danced the atmosphere in the hall lightened, and soon all the crying had stopped and the laughter began.

If seeing the ghost of Frank Longbottom (prone to tripping up at a moments notice) dancing with the ghost of Professor McGonagall wasn't enough, the sight of Bellatrix dancing a waltz with Snape was sure to set off the laughs. People pounded their nearest Marauder on the back, congratulating them on a job well done.

Slowly the mirror ghosts started to fade as the music died away, and as the last one vanished from sight a twinkling smile came into Dumbledore's eye, "Well, after that spectacle I think it's about time we settled down to our feast."

The tables were immediately filled with the most appetising dishes the students had ever seen, from four great boars to tiny quail eggs, roast potatoes, gravies and sauces of all descriptions, pitchers of pumpkin juice watered down wine, the feast was truly a sight for hungry mouths. With one motion the students started in on the sumptuous meal, the golden candles in the giant pumpkins shedding their brilliant light over all.

In the Gryffindor section of the hall the four boys sat around their table looking slightly smug; the prank had gone off without a hitch, and it didn't look as if they were going to get into trouble for it.

"Good ole Dumbledore, you can always count on him to get us out of detentions." grinned James.

"Even when you deserve them!" jibed Remus, tucking into the steak pie in front of him.

"When have we ever deserved a detention?" asked Sirius, a sappy look in his eyes as he stared at his friend.

"Stop that." growled the wolf, laughter rippling round the table as Sirius continued trying to plead his innocence.

"Rather than Snuffles, he should be called Pooch." teased Peter.

Sirius gasped and turned his attention to the small boy, who was clearly enjoying his roast beef, "How could you suggest such a thing, Wormtail?"

"Wormtail?"

"Yep. That's your nickname from now on. I, Sirius Black do so declare." he announced, placing one hand over his heart whilst waving his fork in the air.

"Well, if he declares it..." James noted, "That's one down, two to go."

Over in the other sections of the hall the laughter was just as loud, with jokes and tales being told between mouthfuls. But round a table where two Slytherins sat a touch of anxiety held sway.

"I haven't seen him since lunch, and he took off rather quickly then." Avery murmured,

"We'll just have to go find him after the feast," agreed Mulciber, another sixth year, "You know how he is about eating."

Avery nodded, "Plus there's the other reason."

"Not here, you fool." hissed the other occupant of the table, a seventh year with long dark hair and a nasty glint in her eyes.

xxxxx

The feast was over, dances had been danced, and all the students had made their way back to their dormitories to carry on the festivities until the Professors came to stop them, when Severus Snape made his way out of the library. Used to missing meals he hadn't noticed the time, nor that he had missed the spectacle of the feast, till the librarian had come along to lock up for the night.

Studiously avoiding mirrors or reflective objects of any kind he squelched his way back down to the dungeons and the Slytherin dormitory. Slipping into his room past a rabble of slightly tipsy fourth years he put down the pile of books and sat on his bed.

Warily he picked up a mirror from his bedside table, turning it over he braced himself for his reflection. Yet when he looked into the mirror he faced himself, normal, completely solid and back to his usual self. Surprised he tried the one in his bathroom, yet exactly the same sight greeted him.

"Potter," he growled to himself, turning his back on his reflection, "One day I'll get even."

But with his back to the mirror he couldn't see the ghostly figure rise up out of the depths and start to climb out of the glass. The first he knew of it was when the cold mist hand grasped his shoulder.

* * *

**Reviews = Appreciation = Smiles = Faster Typing**

**A/N: All thanks go to Half-Drowned Dracula for beta-ing the last ten, and hopefully the next ten chapters.**


	11. Missed Meals

**Chapter Eleven: Missed Meals**

"Have you guys seen Snape today?" said Peter as he fell into the common room.

"Why would we want to?" retorted James lazily.

"Aside from pranking him," interjected Sirius.

"Well, yes. Aside from that."

"You've got to see this." insisted Pettigrew, grabbing hold of James'arm and starting to pull. Sadly, due to his weak nature and James'time spent holding on to a broom for dear life, James went nowhere.

"Why have we got to see Snape? We know what he looks like."

"Greasy hair, hooked nose, pile of books. Have I missed anything, Noble?"

"Nope. And you were right, it doesn't work."

Sirius punched the air, happy at being proved right. Quickly he pulled out a list and using his discarded quill crossed another name off the rapidly shortening nickname list.

"Hey guys. What's going on?" said Remus as he came down the stairs from their collective dorm, "Why are you trying to pull James out of his seat ... what am I supposed to call you again?"

"Because they have to see Snape," the small boy left off tugging futilely at James and sidled over to Remus, "Something's gone wrong." he whispered.

"Wrong?" Remus frowned, "What sort of wrong?"

"And it's 'Wormtail' don't forget, Remus." called James, ignoring the boy on his sleeve.

"If you'd come see…"

"Fine!" Sirius exclaimed, throwing down his half written four foot essay, "If you're that desperate for us to leave our hard work and follow you on an escapade to see Snape, then I guess we have no choice but to follow."

With that statement Sirius gestured for Peter to lead the way and headed for the portrait hole of the Gryffindor common room. Remus shared a look of 'when Sirius gets hold of an idea he doesn't let go' with James before both boys trooped after the pair.

xxxxxx

The four boys peered out from round various bookshelves, all sets of eyes focused on one sight: that of Severus Snape, resident victim. Simultaneously all heads drew back and the Marauders gathered into a tight knit group, voices lowered so they wouldn't be overheard in the near-silent library.

"You see!" squeaked Pete.

"That's brilliant."

"Did we do that?"

"He mustn't have been at the feast."

The last comment came from Remus who, rather than the grins on the faces of the black-haired boys, had a concerned look; one which he normally reserved for when something was about to blow up. Sirius sobered up immediately, he'd been the cause of that look to many times not to take notice.

"Moony? Surely this is an amusing side effect of our strange but wonderful prank yesterday, no harm done."

"No harm done? Sirius Black, did you not listen to what I said before we started that prank?" Remus struggled to keep his voice low with all the annoyance running through it.

"Um. 'Don't get yourself killed'?"

"If you must?" suggested James.

"Only if there's chocolate?"

All heads turned to the currently nicknamed 'Wormtail', for although Remus'addiction to chocolate was well known amongst the four he had yet to agree to a bribe of the tasty stuff in return for his help on a prank.

"Sorry," muttered Peter.

"Would that work?" inquired James, referring to the chocolate bribe.

"That's hardly the point right now," said Remus, turning a light shade of red, "I _said_ that we had to make sure everyone was in the great hall for the finale, _because_," Remus stressed the explanation as Sirius threatened to interrupt, "If someone's ghostly counterpart wasn't taken away by our spell it would attempt to replace the living person it was a reflection of. Hence Snape looking the way he does. He got caught."

The boys peeked round the shelves again, examining the phenomena before them in the light of Remus'words. There, a few tables away sat Snape just as Sirius had described him: shoulder length black greasy hair, unfortunate size of nose, and a pile of books hiding his notes from view. The major difference between Sirius'description and the real thing was that the Snape before them was translucent.

"Do you think if I throw a book at him it'll go right through him?" James mused.

Snape turned over a page, his eyes scanning the text before him. He seemed completely oblivious to his ghostly state, yet his solid quill could be seen through his pale fingers. His outline wavered as he reached for the ink pot then reformed as his arm stilled again. It was like watching a really old horror film out of focus.

"We have to do something." whispered Remus.

"Why?" asked Sirius, uncomprehendingly.

"Because," Remus drew back and fixed the three boys with his patented 'you will do as I tell you' stare, "If we don't fix this within a few days Snape will…"

"Spit it out Moony. He'll what? Be stuck as the male version of Myrtle forever?"

"He'll die."

"What? Why?"

"You never mentioned _that_ in your lecture before hand!"

"Shhh." Madam Pince glowered at the four over her spectacles as their voices disturbed the silent rustling of paper.

James indicated with his head that they should leave before they got into more serious trouble with the woman. As silently as four teenage boys could, they traipsed out into the corridor. Finding a stone bench Pete, James and Remus sat down whilst Sirius paced in front of them. Though he didn't like Snape, Sirius saw no reason why he should die – mainly because he was a great victim for their pranks.

"Exactly what is happening to him?" Sirius questioned.

"The living and dead can't exist in the same place at the same time, not if it's the same person. One or the other has to fade out, which one does depends on which is stronger. That's why we can't normally see the mirror ghosts. Plus, if no physical contact is made, the living will is stronger." Remus looked up from his examination of the stone slabs at his feet, catching the intense thinking expression of his friend.

"Why did we do this prank again?" said James exasperatedly, "This seems like far too weird."

"Even for us," added Peter.

"We did it because it was a fantastic example of the Hallowe'en spirit, with the line blurring between living and dead," replied Sirius distractedly. He was pacing back and forth again, running one hand through his hair as he put his normally unused brain to work on something other than pranks.

"And now we have to save Snape?" James shook his head at the reversal of their situation.

Suddenly Sirius stopped and turned sharply, pointing a finger at Remus, "You said it's a contest between wills?"

"Yes." Remus replied, wondering where this was going.

"Then why isn't Snivellus fighting back?"

"You're not suggesting what I think you're suggesting, are you Snuffles?" James winced at the thought, though the name had possibilities.

"If it is the only way to save our beloved Snivellus, James, then we have no other choice."

"But it's _Snape!_"

"Out best victim."

"I repeat: _Snape_."

"Remember when we turned him multicoloured? Or when he was forced to hop all day? Or when…"

"Alright!" James snapped, the dreamy look of remembrance sliding off his face, "We'll do it."

Peter, whose head had been shuttling back and forth between the pair, spoke up, "Do what?"

"Get to know Snape." James said morosely.

"Wha?"

"We need to know why our dear victim is not fighting for his existence. Why, in short, he's giving up." Sirius smirked, "We're going Snape-stalking."

"Snape-stalking?" Remus said.

James got up and starting pacing round the still smirking boy, "Wormtail, you stay here and keep an eye on him," he gestured towards the library, "Remus and I will go talk to Lily,"

"Lily?"

"Lily, my wonderful, flame-haired, porcelain skinned goddess. She who lights up the room when she enters, who…"

SMACK! Sirius'hand clipped the back of James'head shocking him from his eloquent praise of his ever-refusing sweetheart.

"As I was saying," he continued, with a nasty look at Sirius, "Since Lily has been known to associate with the slimy bastard, and since somehow Moony here has cultivated a friendship with the wonderful female – which he will one day let me take advantage of - together he and I shall try to find out what the hell is wrong with Snape."

"And in the meantime what do you suggest I do, oh fearless leader?" Sirius stood to attention, the salute slightly spoilt by the huge grin plastered across his face.

"You, Private Snuffles, will have the dangerous project of finding information out about our subject from one potions professor."

Sirius' face fell; the potions professor, Slughorn, was a gregarious character who loved to 'get people started' on their careers, in return for baskets of fruit and cases of fine Bourbon. To this end he had his 'Slug Club' to which only the brightest and best of any year were invited. Sirius had been fortunate, or unfortunate depending on your liking of the 'Slug' himself, to be hunted out by Professor Slughorn for the past hour and a bit years. It had become a pastime of the Marauder's year group to see how Sirius would get out of the next invitation.

"Do I have to, James?" Sirius whined.

"Yes." James was determined; he had given into the Slug Club in his second year and knew what an interesting person the professor was, "For the chance of getting you into his Club Slughorn will give you any information you want."

Turning on his heel Sirius marched off down the corridor leaving the other three Marauders watching him go.

"If I have to join that club you will pay, Knob!," he called over his shoulder in a parting shot as he vanished round the corner.

James tried not to react to the hated, and already vetoed, name, "Shall we?" he said through gritted teeth, looking at Remus.

"You just want an opportunity to ask her again, don't you?"

"I'd be lying if I said no, so I won't."

The pair headed off in the opposite direction to Sirius, towards the Gryffindor common room and, hopefully, Lily Evans.

"I'll just wait here and keep watch then." murmured Peter to himself as he found himself alone. Getting up he made his way back into the library and a vantage point from which he could keep an eye on the ghostly Snape.

xxxxxx

Petter Pettigrew was bored. So bored in fact that he was eyeing up the textbooks opposite where he was sitting with possible interest. He'd been sitting in practically the same place for hours now; back against one dusty bookcase, short legs stretched out to meet the opposing one. Every now and then his eyes flicked over to an almost as still figure sitting at one of the library desks, but the frequency of his checks to see if Severus Snape still hadn't moved was decreasing.

He had few interests but the ones he did have he was passionate about. Top of his list was food. Food of any kind was something he could wax eloquent about; he could talk for hours about precisely how you should cook the perfect roast, or braise the richest steak. Out of all the meals of the day dinner had to be his favourite: all the different types of meat, vegetables, and puddings – he was in heaven when it came to dinner.

Which was why, along with being bored, Peter was getting steadily more and more frustrated. Lunch had been hours ago, and the minutes were ticking down to dinner. Yet Snape was still sitting at the desk scribbling away, showing no sign of moving towards getting that most needed and desired thing: food!

Peter dug into the voluminous pockets of his robe and began pulling out all the junk from within. A determined expression fell over his face as the pile of randomness grew in front of him; there was everything there: bits of string, a box of matches, five paperclips strung together, a stick, some leftover wrappers from various sweets, and a wild selection of potions ingredients. Sadly, what this pile of nonsense lacked was any form of edible food. For a moment he debated trying some of the potions ingredients, but after recalling what had happened last time (it involved James Potter, a large stick, and bright blue beetles) he decided against it.

Sighing he started the process of filling his pockets back up with the junk. As he did he happened to glance up, and what he saw stopped his movements dead – Snape was gone. Mr Severus Snape, Mr I'm happy to work without food for hours and hours, had vanished.

Panicking slightly the small boy stuffed what remained of the pile into one pocket and took off at a near run out of the library.

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**Flames heat the cauldron of creativity, reviews are cookiefied....er...**


	12. Stuck in the Middle

**Chapter Twelve: Stuck in the Middle**

A few hours earlier in the Gryffindor common room, looking as stunning as ever (in James Potter's opinion, not that anyone was listening), Lily Evans was unaware of the boys who were coming to make her quite pleasant day into a disturbing one. Currently these two boys were standing outside the portrait, Remus having stopped James from bounding in and spoiling all chance of getting any help from the girl.

"You do realise that she's not going to tell you anything, don't you James?" Remus said, quirking an eyebrow.

"I don't know what you're talking about," replied James stubbornly, "She loves me and will tell me anything. She's just in denial, that's all."

"Denial? For five years?" Remus shook his head, "You're the one who's in denial."

"Am not." the messy haired boy sulked.

"How about you just stay quiet and let me do the talking?"

"Don't see why she won't talk to me anyway. It's not like..."

"You've annoyed her endlessly with your incessant asking out?" Remus teased, before saying the password to allow the boys into the common room.

Lily, sitting on one of the window seats curled up with her favourite book, didn't pay any attention as the pair headed towards her. To anyone observing it looked as if she hadn't noticed them come in, that was until they were about five feet away from her.

"Stop right there," she said, pointed her wand straight at James "What do you want, Potter?"

"I take it you haven't forgiven me for Hallowe'en?" the boy asked, trying not to annoy the witch with the wand.

"No." snapped Lily, placing her book down before marching forwards till her wand tip hovered between the unfortunate James' eyes.

"Lily?"

"Yes, Remus?" Lily's tone was very calm as she addressed the other Marauder, "Did you want to go over those transfiguration notes?"

"Yes, that would be really..." Remus trailed off at the sideways look from the honestly-not-cowering boy, "Actually, Lily, we're kinda here about something else."

"We?" Lily took her eyes off her target for one moment to stare at Remus incredulously, "You mean you and ... him are ... What."

Even though Remus and Lily had been friends for a couple of years never had he referred to himself and any of the Marauders as 'we'; always it was 'them' and 'me' when he mentioned them. It was so much that he wasn't a part of the Marauders, it was more that his furry condition made him feel as if he had to keep everyone slightly apart from himself; just in case.

"It's to do with Severus," Remus said gently, hoping that the sparks flying out of Lily's wand weren't hurting James, "Something went a little ... wrong."

"He looks worse now that he normally does," quipped James, which might have been a mistake unless he _wanted_ devil horns.

Sighing Lily returned to her seat, Severus had been a close friend once and she'd counted herself lucky to have his company. With the disappearances of half-blood and muggleborn witches and wizards over the last few years increasing the attitude in the school was to avoid close friendship with those who might vanish. Being a muggleborn herself, Lily had learnt that only the brave, ignorant, or enigmatic students like Severus and Remus would dare to associate with her.

From before she had been accepted into Hogwarts Severus had been there for her, teaching her small spells and making her feel like she wasn't such a _freak_ as her sister made her out to be. Things had slowly changed over the years after she had got the letter that had changed her life. Severus had become more distant, particularly with them being in such opposing Houses. But still, whenever she had had problems with the work, or with the ugly whispers in the corridor, he had been there with a few quiet words to help her out. It was only fair that, even though they had become a lot more distant in the past year, she returned the favour.

"What happened?" she asked,

Whilst Remus proceeded to give her the information he had already given the boys, James whipped out his wand and tried to get rid of the rather feminine devil horns Lily had gifted him with. He muttered under his breath as he did so, interspersing spells with insults about red haired girls who really should have been a Marauder if she wanted to go round sticking horns on peoples heads. Finally, and with an "Ah ha!" which earned him a look from both book-people, the horns were safely removed.

"So, the long and the short of it is, we need to know everything we can about Sniv...er...Snape." he said, interrupting Remus and Lily's conversation which had drifted on to the metamorphic properties of transfiguration spells.

"I gathered that, Potter," remarked Lily, "Though I'm still not totally convinced that you're not just going to use this information to hurt him even more than you already have done."

"Would we do that?!" the hurt tone in James' voice was almost convincing, though the look Remus sent him was more than good enough to convince him to behave, "Okay, so maybe we would. But this time I promise we're genuine!"

"Remus?"

"It really is the only way."

"Alright. But let's not do this here." Lily said quietly, noting the covert audience they seemed to have gathered. The common room was hardly empty, weekends meant that it was more full than usual, and James/Lily exchanges always attracted a curious audience.

The three fifth years' made their way out of the red and gold common room, the boys trailing slightly behind. After a while, during which looks were passed between Remus and James, the short-sighted boy gently tapped Lily on the shoulder.

"Where are we going?"

"There's a courtyard which I study in. It'll be empty now."

"Well, of course it will. It's October and freezing out there." James muttered under his breath, but to his chagrin not quietly enough.

"You are a wizard aren't you Potter? A fifth year who knows how to do warming spells?" the smugness was evident in the fiery girl's voice.

xxxxxx

"Okay, we are now in a place where we won't be overheard. It may be freezing but there's no one around. Will you tell us what we need to know?" James said tetchily, as Remus wandered round putting up silencing screens.

"Does the cold just make you more obnoxious, Potter? Or are you always like this when you want something?" Lily shivered, though she wouldn't admit it it was colder out here than she had anticipated, "Oh wait, silly question. You've always been like this when chasing me."

"I don't chase you! I just..."

"Repeatedly ask me out in louder and more rude ways each time you see me."

"I don't always do that!" James retorted without thinking.

A frosty silence fell between the pair; they had formed an unspoken agreement not to speak of what happened last night before the feast. Remus looked between the two, he could figure there was something going on but not what.

"If you are done?" he inquired tentatively, "We came here for a reason."

Pulling James down to a bench he sat across from Lily and waited patiently till she had brought herself out of her strange funk. He had learnt over the years he had been friends with the girl that saying anything to her when she was thinking deeply would just get her angry. A fact he had decided not to share with James; if he couldn't figure it out for himself then Remus considered that the show wasn't worth spoiling.

"Fine." Lily sat down, still confused about what was going on between her and the arrogant boy, "What do you need to know about Severus exactly?"

"Why he can't wash his hair." James muttered, earning him a dig in the side from Remus' elbow.

"Why is he unhappy with his life to the extent that he would want to give it up?" asked Remus calmly, hoping his attitude would rub off on the pair of hot-heads.

Lily's eyes just widened at the question, "You really don't know anything about him do you?"

"Nope." responded James cheerfully, he was quite happy not knowing anything about his victim/enemy, other than his weak spots of course.

"You don't think that maybe one of the reasons is the pranks you play on him?" Lily looked a trifle smug at getting the upper hand straight away.

"I realised that, Lily. I just don't think that a few ... okay, a lot of pranks, would cause someone to give up living." the werewolf responded rationally, effectively popping the girl's smug bubble.

"Hmm. In which case I guess it's going to be his past." Lily, her bubble having been popped, was feeling a little uncomfortable with revealing the information which her friend had entrusted her with.

James, energy levels running high as they always did around the object of his affection, got up and started to pace across the small courtyard. It was bounded by the walls of various classrooms with only two entrances and exits, though there were a number of windows overlooking the ivy-ridden patch of land. Benches had been placed around the edge of the triangular area with a small awkward looking tree attempting to reach the light that filtered down in the centre. Pacing in a circle round the tree he alternated between flipping his wand in his fingers and running them through his already messy hair.

"If you don't tell us, we won't be able to help him. And," he sighed, "I don't think you want anything to happen to him. Am I right?"

Lily's mouth opened and closed once or twice as she tried to stifle the inevitable antagonistic remark. Finally she settled on a quiet, "Yes."

"It's alright Lily. I promise I won't let them use anything you tell us against him. On my honour as a werewolf." said Remus, going over to the girl and sitting close beside her.

A small smile quirked the green eyed girl's mouth as she whispered, "Promise you'll tear them to shreds next moon if they do?"

"Yep," Remus smiled back at her, giving a mock growl at James as the other boy looked surprised and jealous as he comforted Lily.

"He's insecure." Lily confided, but before she really got into the truth behind the Slytherin a thought struck her, "You're never going to be able to remember all of this, let alone apply it right."

She got up from her seat and placed herself in front of the pacing James, arms folded ready for anything. "We're going to have to make a deal," she announced, "And I'll want it in writing."

xxxxxx

Peter ran through the halls, muttering under his breath about how stupid he was to lose his target. Swerving back and forth through the occasional student wandering aimlessly round the halls, some with heads buried in books or laughing with friends, he searched for a black figure among the black robed students. Realising his task was nearly impossible the small boy stopped dead, causing several wanderers to lose their place in various texts as they landed in a heap.

"If I were Snape where would I go?" he mused to himself as he waved his wand carelessly, causing several students' bags to sprout legs and try to walk away, "Common room!"

Slipping down a side corridor and into a little used short cut the small figure scurried towards the one place he really didn't want to go: the Slytherin common room.

Soon he was hidden in a niche along the corridor every ambitious snake has to go down to reach their subterranean lair. It was dark and there was a slight watery feeling, as if the common room was buried deep beneath the squid infested lake. Peter shuddered, he had never really liked the water ever since he had been dropped in the lake near his home in the hope that he would float, or do something else magical. Sinking in a black lake not knowing which direction was up, and not being able to swim to the surface even if he did know where it was, would scare anyone. He was just lucky that his mother liked him, otherwise there would only be three Marauders.

Skulking in the shadows he waited, and waited. Then, the sound of footsteps drifted down the echoing tunnel and from round the corner came a figure. Robes billowing in a way perfected in third year, greasy hair hiding his face from view, Snape was easily identified by the quivering boy. The tall boy swept by, heading towards the end of the corridor where a black innocuous wall awaited the Slytherin password.

Before he got there Snape stopped; fearful that he had been spotted Peter huddled back deeper into the shadows. But rather than turning and cursing him with some new invention Snape just looked round and checked that there was no one in the corridor with him. Failing to notice the crouching Peter, he lightly touched a firmly closed and locked door with his wand, whispering a well chosen spell as he did. Silently the door swung open and Snape slipped inside allowing the door to swing closed behind him.

"Now what?" Peter murmured, knowing that the report of 'Snape went into a room, I don't know what he did.' would not go down well with either of the dark haired members of the Marauders.

A swift decision later, after considering all his options (which were few), there was a soft sound in the corridor and if there had been anyone else around they would have lost their lunch at the sight of the small boy turning into a twitchy nosed rat. Sometimes being an Animagus was useful, and this was one of them. Skittering up to the door Wormtail, as he was now to be known, sniffed around the edges. In this form his sense of smell was much better than normal, but on this occasion the damp smell on the soft earth layer above the stones was too strong. But what he could sense, with his long whiskers, was the flow of air. Particularly useful when it came to finding holes.

His tiny claws clicked on the rough stone as he moved along the wall, searching for a small entrance to the room beyond. Before long his choice paid off; a narrow hole leading directly inwards between two stones. Now all he had to do was get through it. Squirming and slithering the rat shaped boy forced his way between the hard granite blocks; the mortar was loose and more than once his pointed nose quivered with a incipient ratty sneeze as dust fell on him. He could see the light at the end of the tiny tunnel now, just one more push and he would be free. This was, as usual with Peter, the point at which his luck ran out. However much he twisted and turned he couldn't deny the fact: he was stuck. Stuck in between two stones in the Slytherin corridor in his Animagus form, and no one knew where he was.

* * *

**Next: Can Peter free himself? Do we really want him to? And will Lily and James ever stop arguing? Review and you may find out.**


	13. Unlucky Day

**Chapter: Unlucky Day**

Sirius Black stared at the door in front of him, trying to figure out what he had done to get himself into this situation. He knew he had turned all of James' socks vivid orange and purple, and that there was that time when he had put a fake snake into his bag making the messy haired boy jump a while when he went to find his timetable. But those were the normal sort of pranks that the two of them played on each other the whole time. Who better to try out ideas on than your best mate?

This fact was why he couldn't understand why he was standing, arms crossed, in a dark corridor facing an oak door which looked fairly foreboding. He knew that behind the door was his worst enemy in the whole of the world of teachers; a rotund man with a penchant for sugared fruit. Sirius didn't think that he deserved the punishment of having to get information out of the great hoarder of Hogwarts: Professor Horace Slughorn.

It wasn't that he didn't like the Professor, Sirius mused, it was more the fact that the Professor liked him. Slughorn ran a particular club that Sirius was not greatly fond of; a special group of people

with skills which could be used to further the acquisition of Firewhiskey and other such interesting items, in return for places in the greatest institutions of the magical world. After being asked to be in the Slug Club, as it was known, for the fourteenth time Sirius had avoided the Professor at all costs. The Slug Club was not had people with skills which could be used in St. Mungo's and the Ministry, but also people whose skills lay more in the direction of destruction and torture. The best example of this was Sirius'own cousin: Bellatrix Black.

Bellatrix was the real reason why Sirius did not want to knock on the door which he was now pacing in front of. To get the information needed Sirius may well have to join the infamous club and put up with seeing his cousin more than he really wanted to (which was never). Even before he had run away from home, Sirius had avoided his cousin as much as was physically possible. Prior to Sirius doing the unthinkable and been sorted into Gryffindor Bellatrix hadn't been the person he would turn to for help, but after that fateful September day, and especially since Sirius had left, she had become even more ruthless in her hate of him taking every opportunity to curse him. Even though she was the most vicious person Hogwarts had seen in years she had still gotten easily into the Slug Club. All the Blacks had been high-flyers in one way or another, and Professor Slughorn was counting on the female Black following the family tradition.

Which was why Sirius did not want to do this, but the alternative was letting someone die; something that would never sit well with him. So, summoning the famous Gryffindor courage, Sirius stepped up to the door and raised him fist to knock. But before his knuckles could land on the door it opened.

"I was wondering how long it would take. Come in dear boy." Professor Slughorn smirked as he turned his back; there were many uses for door wards, and getting a surprised look on Sirius Black's face was one of the best. "Do close the door behind you, there's quite always such a chill in the air down here."

Complying numbly Sirius took a look round the rotund man's office. As expected it was littered with photographs of successful past students; he noticed one of a keeper of a famous quidditch team, smiling as he was patted on the back by a slightly thinner Slughorn.

"Ah, yes. Paul, he was quite a keeper for Hufflepuff when he was here. He was very lucky that I knew the captain of that team at the time, otherwise who knows where all his hard work would have landed him." Slughorn had sidled up to Sirius and placed a fatherly hand on his shoulder, "But you didn't come here to hear me talk about the successful few who I've been fortunate enough to know. What is bothering you?"

"Erm," Sirius let himself be manoeuvred over to a very comfy looking chair and plied with sweets, "It's nothing really."

"Oh come now," Slughorn settled himself in his favourite chair and tried to figure out why the young man who had evaded his presence as much as he could for the past four years had willingly walked into his office, "You didn't come here for 'nothing'. You know I'm always here with a willing ear to hear any problems, or questions you might have."

"Er, thank you," thinking quickly, Sirius decided a portion of truth with any lie he chose would go a long way, "It's about Snape."

"Snape? As in Severus Snape?" Slughorn blinked back his surprise, "Is this to do with a prank Mr. Black? You should know I uphold Professor Dumbledore's policy on those."

"I do, Sir. And to be honest, it's only slightly to do with a prank. Or rather pranks."

"Well, you know I can't take any part in any thing…illicit."

"Oh, of course sir. I would never suggest that a person of your esteem would get involved in such uncreative warfare." Sirius was slowly getting into his stride as he began to see how he could get the information and get out relatively unscathed, "Which is precisely why I have come to you."

The slightly blank look on the Professor's face was perfectly conveying his confusion; the boy was clearly addled.

"Over the summer I must admit to having a change of heart towards our young friend. I was watching Pete being once again hung from his toes as thanks for a stray practical joke, and I realised," Sirius allowed a mistiness to cover his eyes as he pretended to remember his life-changing moment, "I realised that we had been terribly cruel to Severus. All he was looking for was someone to share his creativity for teasing the younger years with and we had thrown it back in his face,"

"Quite literally," noted the Professor under his breath, enjoying the tale being spun before him.

"And so, when we returned I reasoned with the other members of our small but tightly knit band and we agreed to assist our once victim with his endeavour."

"But , my dear boy, you have continued pranking the young man in question. There has been many an evening since September began when my services have been required to undo what you and your fellows have done." Slughorn stood up and poured a small glass of firewhiskey, not seeing the mild look of panic that crossed the dark-haired boy's face.

"Ah, yes." Sirius tapped his fingers lightly on the arm of his chair, "There is a reason for that,"

"I'm sure there is," said the man as he re-took his seat and sipped at his glass.

There was a moment of silence as Sirius thought about reasonable explanations which fitted in with the tale he had begun to spin, then as a chill breeze slipped under the door and ruffled the flames of the fire it came to him.

"We wanted it to be a surprise," he barked,

"Oh? What did you want to surprise him with?"

"A truly spectacular gift, but you see if we had stopped pranking him as soon as term began he would have suspected something."

"A gift?" inquired Slughorn,

"Yes, and this is the reason why I have come to you, sir. We wished to appeal to his Slytherin nature with our gift of a marvellous prank done only to those who are younger than us. Something that would make him appreciate the effort and artwork that we, the so-called pranksters of Hogwarts, undertake." Sirius breathed a small sigh of relief as interest wormed its way back onto the face of his target, "But after much thinking we had to come to the sad conclusion that for all our pranking of Mr. Snape we know very little about him. And so as the representative of our group I was wondering if you could tell me anything about Snape that would assist us in our endeavour."

"Well…" began the Professor, debating internally about whether the tale he had heard was worthy of telling the little he knew about the enigmatic Severus Snape.

xxxxxx

Speaking of Severus Snape, let us return now to the events of the night before; when a banquet had been missed and a ghostly battle was about to begin.

Warily Severus picked up a mirror from his bedside table, avoiding the ghosts in the mirrors all day had not been easy but he was determined that he would face this problem before he slept. Turning the mirror over he braced himself for his reflection, yet as he stared into is his own normal, completely solid self stared back at him. Surprised he tried the one in his bathroom, yet exactly the same sight greeted him.

"Potter," he growled to himself, turning his back on his reflection, "One day I'll get even."

But with his back to the bathroom mirror he couldn't see the ghostly figure rise up out of the depths and start to climb out of the glass. It crossed the room quickly, floating silently with blue fire in its eyes. As Snape crossed back across the dormitory to his bed he felt a cold touch on his shoulder, spinning round he nearly jumped as he came face to face with a three dimensional ghostly version of himself. The figure has dark circles round his eyes and as he smiled he showed all his teeth; the resemblance to a skull was uncanny.

Without warning the ghost stepped forward and his form plunged into the real Severus' body. Severus shuddered and gasped as he felt the freezing cold touch overwhelm his senses. The cold crept round his body feeling its way into his fingers and toes. Wildly he looked round for his wand, finally spotting it on his bed, but when he tried to reach for it he found himself unable to move. He took a last gasping breath before the cold overtook him completely and he collapsed to the floor unconscious.

_Severus opened his eyes to an icy world; he was standing on the edge of a great frozen lake with nothing but white ice and snow all around him. Far off in the distance pale fires burnt, points of red in the frozen wilderness. Near the centre of the lake a figure floated above the ice, peering closer he saw that it was him. Blue and white the floating version of himself looked dead – the ghost of himself. The figure floated closer as Severus started to look for a way out of the icy world, then when it was no more than five feet away its eyes open. He cried out for where its eyes should have been were flickering blue flames. _

_A strange flash of light blotted out his sight completely, and when it finally cleared he found himself bound by ice floating over the lake. By the shore the blue figure stood, it laughed a high brittle laugh and walked off into the distance fading as it went. Severus tried to scream but no sound emerged, he was trapped._

The door to the dorm opened as Avery stepped inside, seeing the collapsed form of Severus on the floor he rushed over.

"Severus? Severus, can you hear me?" the boy called as he lifted his friend's head from the floor.

Groaning Severus came to, but as he opened his eyes Avery thought he saw a blue light flicker in them for a moment.

"You alright mate?" Avery inquired.

"I think I must have fallen," Snape said hesitatingly as Avery helped him to sit on his bed.

"I didn't see you at the feast," Avery stated, "Have you eaten at all today?"

"Yes!" Severus defensively answered, "I had lunch...I think."

A concerned look passed over Avery's face, all of Slytherin knew of Severus'eating habits – or lack thereof – and himself and Mulciber, another boy in his year, had made it their mission to see that the year-younger boy, Severus, ate at least two decent meals a day.

"Well that's probably why you collapsed," he said, "You just stay there. I'll go down to the kitchens and get you some food. Don't try to stop me, you know you'll feel better for it."

Severus tried to interrupt his friend but Avery had quickly vanished out of the door. As soon as he was alone Severus stood up and stretched, walking over to the window as he did. It was dark outside the castle, and with no external lights save those from Hagrid's hut the reflection of indoors was very easy to see. As Severus glanced at the image he smiled, to all the world save those who had created him he would look solid and normal, but his reflection revealed to him the true being that now resided inside his form. The face that stared back out of the window was a ghostly pale with blue fire burning in its eyes.

xxxxxx

When Severus awoke the next day he felt stronger, the tug of mortality had grown less overnight as the true Severus had grown weaker. Yet as long as the mortal boy was alive inside the ghost knew that it would someday fade; the mortal will was always stronger. So after throwing on some clothes and muttering something about assignments to the two boys who tried to stop him leaving the dungeon common room without eating, he set off to one of the best libraries of magic - the library of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Nodding to the librarian at the desk Severus began pulling books off the shelves until he had a fair pile in his arms. Settling down at a desk he stated to try to find a way to break the connection with the true Snape yet remain in the world of the living.

So engrossed in his reading was he that he failed to notice a small podgy boy stare at him before running out of the library. Nor did him notice the boy's return with three others and the whispered conversation they had. Finally, thinking that he may have found a possible potion that would help stave off his demise, Severus packed away his things and headed to a disused classroom in the dungeons.

"Alohomora." he muttered before the door swung open, drawing the mortal to the surface just long enough to complete the spell.

This classroom was unused for a simple reason; the lake which it was under had worn a way down between the stones and enchantments so that there was now a steady drip of water from the roof in several places. There was, however, one corner which Severus Snape used for his experimental potion making, and it was here that the ghost headed.

Laying out the instructions he had copied down he set to work, but before he had laid out all the ingredients he heard a scrabbling from the other side of the room. Unable to use mortal magic without freeing the boy inside from the bonds he had created slightly, the ghost residing in Severus' body didn't draw a wand as he approached the noise. Instead a faint frost remained where his feet had fallen; the power of death was in the cold that he exuded.

Bending down he saw a small hole between to of the stones that made up the wall, turning his head he murmured,

"What have we here?"

There in the hole was a rat. Yet this was no ordinary rat to his sight, it shimmered and glistened with magic. Reaching into the hole Severus started making it wider so that the animal could be captured and examined. As he pulled away the last piece of mortar the rat wriggled free, and before he could lay a finger on it the rodent had fled under a cupboard on the other side of the room.

"Dratted mammal. Well, if you won't be caught you'll just have to be killed."

Severus spoke with glee as he raised his arms and the temperature dropped in the room. Slowly the dripping water froze solid and frost covered the walls, under the cupboard the rat, also known as Peter Pettigrew, shivered. In his Animagus form there was nothing he could do but freeze to death, yet letting Severus Snape find out that he was an Animagus was far too dangerous. It was out of the frying pan and into the fire – or ice – for poor Peter it seemed.

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	14. Narrow Escapes

**Chapter Fourteen: Narrow Escapes**

Sirius hummed as he walked down the corridor towards the Gryffindor common room. He had successfully got the information he needed out of Professor Slughorn, and he hadn't had to join the Slug Club to do it. He wasn't paying much attention as he walked, and didn't see a group of girls come round the corner before it was too late. One of them stood a little forward of the others as they all halted in Sirius's way. Her mass of black hair was carefully groomed into a beehive, and the smirk on her face was worthy of any Slytherin.

"Dearest cousin. How are you today?" sneered the girl.

"Bellatrix," Sirius said shortly, stopping in his tracks. His hand strayed towards his robe pocket and his wand as he answered her question, "Fine, Bella. In fact better than fine."

The girls behind Bellatrix, Bitch Queen of Slytherin, shifted uncomfortably. The enmity between Bellatrix and Sirius was well known to lead to violence. Several times teachers had had to intervene as the spells flying between the pair ricocheted around the corridors.

"Like I really care how a Blood Traitor is. Do you know what I do to little boys like you, betraying the foundation of magic, of what it means to be a witch?" hissed Bellatrix as she pulled out her wand.

"Bore them to death?" jibed the boy pulling out his own wand.

Without further warning battle broke out between the pair. At first Sirius held back from using his worst spells but as he was forced to dodge a couple of nasty hexes sent his way by the beehived Bellatrix a grin broke out on his face; if she was going to play dirty, so was he.

"Leave him to me!" screamed Bellatrix as she saw a couple of her clique drawing their wands to enter the fray, "I'll finish this traitor myself."

"Not likely, dear Bella," laughed Sirius, his heart pounding in his chest as he felt the adrenalin kick in. Part of him loved the fight, and his cousin was one of the best duelists around; not that he would ever tell her that.

He raced around a corner trying to find a place to fight from where he had less chance of getting hit by some of the worse spells in his cousin's dark arsenal.

"Is this anyway to treat your cousin?" he yelled as he ran, "Wouldn't you prefer to give me nice presents?"

"I'll give you a present!" screeched the witch as Sirius took up a position behind a column. Her hair was coming free from its carefully maintained position, leaving strands of hair around her face giving her a slightly crazed look.

There was a momentary lull in the fighting as Bellatrix gathered herself, she knew exactly what she was going to do to the boy who had betrayed everything she stood for. With a hissing whisper she threw a spell she knew would cause him the most harm possible; only the best for her cousin.

"_Crucio!_"

Bellatrix looked on in glee as the spell took its full force through her anger; she had never felt more alive.

Sirius screamed as the spell caught his shoulder, the pain sparked through his body, igniting every nerve. He felt as though he couldn't breathe or think or do anything; nothing existed for him except the pain. His vision went black, and he dropped to the floor unable to gather breath to scream again. Finally, the pain stopped, and he lay on the floor staring up at the ceiling as if all he had known was pain and now that it was gone he had no idea what to do.

In the distance he heard adult voices shouting questions and Bellatrix's high screech as she pretended not to know what had happened. Someone touched his shoulder and slowly he fixed his gaze upon a blurred face. Dazed he reached out and touched the person at his side.

"James?" he slurred.

"It's alright mate, you're going to be alright. Sirius? Sirius?" James reassured him as consciousness slid away.

James looked up as Professor Dumbledore came over to the small group; he was bent at Sirius's side whilst Remus and Lily looked on aghast.

"Mr. Potter, do you know what happened here?" Dumbledore asked, a grim look in his eyes where a friendly twinkle normally lay.

"Not really, Sir. We were just heading back to the common room," James indicated Remus and Lily behind him, "When we heard the sounds of a fight. We ran to see if we could help, but by the time we got here he was already down. He will be alright, won't he, Sir?"

"I'm sure he will. Madam Pomfrey seems to be able to work wonders." Professor Dumbledore paused and fixed the trio with a stare, "Did any of you hear which spell was used?"

"No, Sir." Lily replied as the two boys silently shook their heads."

"Ah. Oh well. And here's Madam Pomfrey to take care of young Mr. Black. I'm sure all will work out for the best." said Dumbledore, patting James on the shoulder before motioning the witch to see to her patient.

**xxxxxx**

"James?"

Silence reigned in the darkened infirmary as Sirius waited for a reply from the seated figure by his bed.

"James?" he asked again, a little louder. Still no reply emerged from the dark. Finally he worked a hand out of bed and poked him, repeating: "James?!"

"Wha? Huh? Who turned out the lights?" James garbled as he awoke from his doze.

"Probably Pomfrey, considering this is the infirmary," replied Sirius sensibly.

"Oh," there was a pause as James rubbed his eyes, cleaned his glasses, and felt for his wand, "_Lumos_. Sirius, you're awake!"

"Either that or I'm holding a conversation in my sleep. Now what the hell happened?"

"I was about to ask you that. All I know is that you got into a fight with Bellatrix again. We should really do something about that girl." James glowered , moving the light so that he could see Sirius properly.

"Speaking of girls, how did you do finding information out about Snape?"

"I don't know whether you're insulting Lily or complimenting Snape there." James pondered, "We did fine. She told us some stuff then decided that we couldn't learn everything there was to know about the 'complex person that is Severus Snape' and so she's going to help us. How about you? Get anything out of Sluggy before Bellatrix kicked your arse?"

"I was doing fine, till..." Sirius complained, before trailing off darkly.

"What happened?" whispered James, catching the note in his friend's voice.

"Unforgivable." Sirius murmured, barely audible even in the quiet infirmary, "She used an unforgivable."

"But they're illegal. It's a life sentence in Azkaban to use one of those!"

"I don't think she cares about that anymore," Sirius pulled himself into a sitting position and ran his hands through his hair, "Sluggy kept mentioning something about a Dark Arts group, and putting that together with what I heard at ... the Black's before I left, it's made me start thinking. You know all the stuff that's been going on lately? The disappearances? The mysterious deaths which aren't really being mentioned? I think there's something bigger happening behind it all. That Dark Arts groups Sluggy mentioned, he kinda said that it was part of something larger. A group of young witches and wizards, recruits, usually Slytherins or ex-Slytherins, delving into darker magic, looking for ways to cheat death. And my family..."

Sirius sneered, the people he had once called family, those he still shared a name with, had made life unbearable for him. Until he had taken his life into his own hands last summer, and had run away to live with the Potters; now they couldn't get to him during the holidays.

"My family kept talking, when they thought I couldn't hear, about a Dark Lord. Someone who's coordinating everything, someone behind it all. And I'd imagine it's not going to be pleasant, not when people live Bellatrix are mixed up in it. If she thinks that there's someone out there who can protect her..."

"What? From Azkaban? From the Ministry?" James queried in a hushed tone, knowing that when Sirius got to thinking he was one of the smartest boys in the year.

"Yes. If she thinks that, why shouldn't she use an unforgivable?"

There was a dark silence as James thought through everything Sirius had said; looking for a mistake, a way which the conclusions were wrong. But he'd seen the _Prophet_, the reports of disappearances and deaths. He'd noted the growing fear in the corridors as students got the feeling that their parents and teachers were hiding something from them. There was no use denying Sirius's conclusions; he'd lived in one of the darkest households of the time, he was an inside source.

"I guess you're right," he sighed reluctantly, "There is something going on, something behind it all. But what can we do? We haven't even done our OWLS."

"I don't know," Sirius stared out the black window, "But maybe if we can save Snape, then we could get more information on this thing. The more we find out the better position we'll be in to fight it when the time comes."

"You're right," James stood up, steely determination layering his voice, "You up for leaving?"

"Anything to get out of this place. We spend far too much time here."

James helped Sirius out of bed and after throwing a certain cloak over themselves they headed up to the common room.

"By the way, have you seen Wormtail lately?" Sirius asked as they left.

xxxxxx

The disused classroom grew colder as the ghost inside Severus froze the air and tried to kill the rat shivering under the cupboard.

_Deep inside his mind the true Severus woke, the bitter cold bonds around him had grown tighter. Shaking his long hair out of his eyes he examined his surroundings again. The fires on the horizon were smaller than before, the world a little darker. Around him he heard a maniacal laugh and the air seemed to cut deeper into his skin with its chill. He struggled hopelessly against his icy restraints, trying to use what wandless magic he knew to free himself._

Outside, the ghost shuddered as he felt Severus wake, the cold air warmed a touch as he turned his attention inwards away from his rodent problem.

Gaining a respite from the cold, Peter tried to devise a plan which would get him out of the room alive. Sticking his nose out from under the cupboard he peered around trying to see with his beady eyes an escape route. Sadly the only way out seemed to be his route into the classroom, and that lay on the other side of the room beyond the ghost and patches of ice water.

Making a snap decision the rat scampered from his hideout and running as fast as his little legs would carry him he raced towards the hole. Diving in he struggled to make it back through, but before he was free to make his escape back to human form the ghost Severus noticed him.

The movement had attracted his attention and, after ruthlessly subduing the mortal in his mind, he strode over to the hole. Grabbing the last piece of rat he put all the cold and death he could into his touch.

Peter felt a pinch on his tail, but with freedom in sight he wasn't about to give up. With a last wriggle he felt the tip of his tail snap off with the brittle cold, and then he was free.

Out in the corridor Peter ran like Mrs Norris, the castle cat and bane of his existence, was after him. So scared that the ghostly Snape would follow him, he didn't even stop to change back before he ran helter-skelter out of the dungeons. Up stairs and down back passages he went before slipping through a small hole in the Gryffindor common room wall.

"What's that?" said a female voice high above his head, "Is that a rat?"

"Where?" asked a wolfish smelling male.

"There. It just came through the wall."

Wormtail sniffed the air: three males, one who smelled of wolf, and a female. Definitely Remus, undoubtedly with James, Sirius and Lily, he decided. Since Lily hadn't been informed of their animagus abilities, and wasn't likely to be unless James got his act together soon, it wasn't safe to change back here. So with a whisk of his tail Peter scurried up the stairs to the dormitory.

"It's gone up to your dorm." Lily said, looking round at the impassive boys, "Aren't you going to do something?"

"Oh. Yeah." James said, realising that their inaction wasn't doing them any favours, "Come on Padfoot, lets get that rat before it eats your chocolate supplies."

"No! Not the chocolate!" yelped Sirius as he followed James upstairs.

"What's with Sirius and his chocolate?" Lily asked, watching the formerly ill boy take the stairs two at a time.

"I have yet to figure it out," lied Remus, flicking through a book on Charms, "Do you think this would work?"

Remus turned the book so Lily could read through a charm to improve confidence. They were sitting by the fire in the common room, the only light from the newly fed fire and a couple of magical lights Remus had conjured floating above their heads. Remus watched Lily as she read the passage, noticing how the glow from the lights made the colour of her hair stand out more against her pale skin. Sometimes he could really see why James never gave up on her, though most of the time she was just Lily Evans, friend, to him.

"He really does like you, y'know. All the gifts and everything, they're just his way of trying to show you how much." he said suddenly.

"I know," Lily sighed, "I wish he'd just have the guts to tell me without all the rest of it."

Remus nodded as the dark-haired pair came bounding back down the stairs.

"Look who we found!" cried James,

"Peter! How did you get up there? I didn't see you go past." Lily frowned.

"I was very quiet, clearly." Peter said with a nervous half-laugh.

"Right, now that we're all assembled. Gents, and Lady," James added, falling silent for a moment gazing at Lily until Sirius kicked him in the shin, "Ouch! As I was saying, Lady and gentlemen, we are here to save one Severus Snape. The question I lay before you is: How?"

James sat down and from somewhere under his robe pulled a quill, pot of ink, and spare parchment.

"Is he always like that?" Lily pleaded with the others to tell her otherwise.

"Yep."

"Always."

"Sometimes the speeches are longer."

"Hey! That's not fair, they're not speeches. They're introductions to extraordinary..." James was quickly muffled by four cushions thrown at his head.

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**A/N: Thanks go to Half-drowned Dracula for betaing this. :)**

**Review?? Pretty Please.**


	15. Potions and Tricks

**Chapter Fifteen: Potions and Tricks**

The next day had dawned very early it seemed to the night owls known as the Marauders plus one who had stayed up late into the night putting forward ways to save Severus. Now Sirius, still with a sore shoulder and a grim mood, and James were making their way to join the others in the great hall for breakfast.

"I've been thinking about what you said last night." admitted James

"Mmm."

"I beginning to think we're being kept in the dark deliberately."

"What do you mean?" urged Sirius, wanting to know how this idea had formed in the head of his friend.

"I mean," began James, starting to walk backwards so that he could catch facial expressions, "If you were an adult fighting to stop some evil guy from rising up and taking over the world, would the first people you told be the children? Or would you keep them in the dark as long as possible, hoping that they wouldn't realise something was happening until it was all over?"

"That is a very good point, and I'd like to know how you came up with it so early in the morning." grinned Sirius, shying away from being serious.

James glared at the other boy before yelping as his shoulder smacked into the door of the Great hall. Turning round he continued, "Not to mention the fact that Dumbledore's been acting weird."

"Dumbledore _is_ weird."

"More than normal, I mean."

Sighing Sirius slipped into his place at the Gryffindor table, "Look can we just drop it." he said exasperatedly, "I was probably wrong about what happened anyway, and you know what Pomfrey's drugs do to a sane mind."

The Great Hall was filled with chattering, half-asleep, students all of whom were intent on eating as much as they could stomach to get through the first half of the day. Up at the teacher's table the Professors were going about the same thing, only in a slightly more stately way. The absence of a brightly coloured figure in the centre of the table stood out more now that James had mentioned Dumbledore; it was true, he had been more conspicuous by his absences this year than his presence.

"What's today's plans then?" he questioned, tearing his eyes away from the space.

"Lily and myself will be figuring out a way to boost Snape's self-esteem..." Remus answered,

"Probably using tough potions problems." interjected Lily, who had deemed to sit closer to the boys now that she was working with them. At least that's what she told herself.

"Right," acknowledged Remus, "You and Peter will be capturing a Boggart, whilst Jamie-boy here will be...what will you be doing, James?"

The questioned boy looked up sharply, his piercing gaze not quite fitting with the spoon sticking out of his mouth. Swallowing slowly he gave himself time to come to terms with his answer.

"I am going to _willingly_ get myself into detention with Flitwick so that I can pick his brains about possible charms." he shuddered.

There was a moments silence at their section of the table in acknowledgement of James's sacrifice; never before had any of the Marauders gone out of their way to _get_ a detention before. Normally they just did what they did best and the detentions just emerged.

"Don't you already have that month with McGonagall to finish?" inquired Sirius,

"Yes."

"What does she have you doing again, Mr. Tines?"

"Before you answer that question, Potter. I want to know what's going on with these names." Lily stated.

Rapid looks were shared amongst the four, and a decision quickly reached that until James managed to go out with the girl no information was to be imparted to her about the extent to which the three non-lycanthropes had gone to for their friend.

"It's simple really," Sirius took up, "We all know that Mr. Moony here had a most wonderful nickname, and we decided to join him. The process of picking is ongoing. You shall know the outcome before long. Come Peter, we must away to the airy attic of Astronomy."

Peter was pulled out of his seat, a pastry finding its way into his pocket, before the pair headed out of the Great Hall for their first lesson of the day. The others quickly finished up their breakfasts and headed up to History of Magic which had split all houses in two this year.

"By the way, what is Professor McGonagall having you do this time, Ti...Prongs?" Remus asked, trying out a new name as he did.

James muttered something under his breath and kept slouching towards the ghost taught class.

"I'm sorry, Potter, I didn't quite catch that." teased Lily,

"She's having me clean out the Owlry, by hand." James announced, steadfastly ignoring the laughter from around him, "She seemed to think that it was an appropriate punishment for someone so...'flighty'."

xxxxxx

It was lunchtime and in the northern most tower, on the right hand side of the fifth floor, in a room which contained the trunks and boxes which had accumulated over the centuries, it was possible to find two very dusty, dirty boys.

"There must be one in here somewhere," moaned Sirius, as he opened yet another box, "With all these boxes and hidey holes, how can there not be one?!"

"Maybe it's hidden really really well," Peter replied, his head buried in a large chest, "or it's really small."

Sirius sneezed as a cloud of dust emerged from the box, before dropping the lid back down with a bang. Another empty box, still no boggart. This task was proving more difficult than it seemed.

"Y'know, it would be so much easier if we could just summon it. Then we wouldn't have to search through all these boxes." Peter mentioned in an offhand manner as he picked his way round a tottering stack.

Sirius stared at the podgy boy before jumping on him and screaming with joy.

"You've got it" You're a bloody genius, Wormtail!" he yelled.

"What? How? What did I say?" Peter asked confusedly, rarely did any member of their little band call _him_ a genius, or say that he had a good idea.

"Come on! We need a firsty." Sirius barked, tearing out of the room.

Peter stood in the centre of the room of boxes, dusty and forlorn. Towers of boxes of all shapes and sizes surrounded him, the dust which they had disturbed in their hunt drifting through the air. High up in one wall the sunlight from outside came streaming through a circular window setting the dust swirling. Dragging his feet a little, Peter left his imprints in the dust behind him as he sighed to himself, "I don't understand."

Sirius careened down several flights of stairs, Peter now close at his heels, until he reached the flight overlooking the doors to the great hall. He skidded to a halt behind a pillar and pulled Peter close.

"The first years don't know you, so you're going to go down there and do what you do best. Persuade one of them back into the box room upstairs." he whispered into Peter's ear.

"Why? What are you planning?" asked Peter suspiciously, whilst noting the sideways compliment he'd been given.

"You'll see. Now get down there," said the mutt, pushing his fellow Marauder out from their hiding place.

After regaining his balance Peter turned back up to inquire further into the nature of Sirius's undisclosed plan, but the boy was already half way back up the corridor apparently muttering to himself as his waved his wand around. Peter shook his head confused at his behaviour, but having encountered this side of his tempestuous friend before (admittedly Remus had ended up speaking in blue bubbles last time) he set off to try to con a first year into taking part in a Marauder's adventure.

The students were slowly coming out of the great hall in small groups, each one heading off to various parts of the castle until the bell rang for afternoon classes. Peter's stomach growled in protest, it had not been fed since breakfast. Dipping into a pocket and nibbling on the pastry he found still in there, Peter assessed the potential candidates. Most were second or third years – all of which had been exposed to the Marauders for too long to be of any use.

A group of first years emerged from the hall chatting away excitedly, Hogwarts was still very new to them. Peter sidled down the remaining stairs, and as he did so he spotted a straggler at the back of the group. Target set he waited for the boy to come closer, then he stepped out beside him.

"Hello," he said genially.

"Oh! Um. Hello," the first year squeaked nervously.

"How do you fancy earning yourself a few sickles?" asked Peter,

"Is your name Sirius Black?" queered the small boy, a note of trepidation in his voice, "because my brother told me not to agree to _anything_ he suggested, or a guy called Potts? Potty? ..."

"Potter. And no, I know of those two troublemakers and I would never have anything to do with them," Peter lied smoothly, "I just need a good strong lad to move a few boxes."

"Oh. Sorry," the boy apologised, "I'd like to help you. My name's Bobbie Doyle,"

Brother to Jamie Doyle, third year Hufflepuff, thought Peter as he shook the proffered hand and led the way back up to the potentially boggart-ridden room.

As the pair closed on the room Peter noticed a black figure hiding round a corner just ahead. Slowly he allowed Bobbie to pull in front of him as they passed the corner. Silently Sirius padded beside him, his fur ruffled from his rapid transformation to his animagus form. The dog-shaped Sirius was holding a piece of paper in his mouth, kneeling down Peter plucked it from him and without a sound Sirius trotted back down the corridor. Opening it Peter read:

_Let him go in first, I'll be waiting. S_

"It's this one," he said as Bobbie passed in front of the door.

"Wicked," Bobbie twitched his fingers slightly before blurting out, "When do I get the money?"

"Not until you've moved the boxes," Peter replied sternly, "Why don't you go in and get started?"

Frowning slightly Bobbie opened the door, Peter slipping in behind him. In the centre of the room was Professor Dumbledore, looking a little stern. For a moment Peter believed that something had gone terribly wrong, but then he noticed that the Professor wasn't casting a shadow, even with the sunlight streaming into the room.

"P-professor Dumbledore, sir." Bobbie stuttered, going pale.

Catching on to the plan Peter quickly hid behind some handy boxes, only to find that his fellow fifth year was already crouching there. Flashing a quick grin at Peter, Sirius went back to watching the unfolding drama in front of them. Dumbledore moved forwards, his footsteps raising no dust on the floor, as Bobbie stuttered out explanations and questions.

"I'm sorry sir, I-I didn't know I wasn't supposed to be in here. I-I w-was just moving some boxes f-for..."

The shadowless professor moved closer and the small boy fell silent, quivering in his overly large robes. Suddenly the fifth years heard a rattling in a box over in the opposite corner of the room. Yelling with excitement Sirius jumped up and over the trunk they were hiding behind. Bobbie started backwards as the black robed boy practically flew over to the shuddering box.

"W-what...w-what's g-going on?" he managed to get out,

Peter stood up from his hiding place and headed over to where Sirius was busily casting spells at the box.

"Sirius? The kid's got a point. What's going on?" he asked, pulling out his own wand.

"Boggart, boggart, what else?" muttered Sirius fervently, a touch of insanity in his voice.

"Rrright." Peter left the still casting boy to it and turned his attention to removing the stalking Dumbledore, "Finito? Fineto Incanteam? Um."

Peter scratched his head with his wand trying to remember the spell for ending enchantments; he wasn't bad at doing spells once he had learnt them, but remembering them was the trick.

"Finite Incantatum." he tried, thoroughly surprised when the fake headmaster vanished in the sunlight leaving a very confused first year behind.

Bobbie slowly pulled himself together, realising that he had been at the mercy of the pranksters of Hogwarts, and that he had got off relatively lightly. He had heard of first years who had had to spend two weeks in the infirmary under the care of the fearsome Matron because of the antics of the four Marauders.

Turning back to Sirius, Peter asked again, "What _is_ going on, Pads?"

Spinning round Sirius grinned his trademark grin and span his wand in his fingers before pointing it successfully at the box behind him.

"In there, my dear Wormtail, is our boggart." he announced,

"And how do you figure that?" inquired the chubby boy,

"Because," explained Sirius as he stalked over to lay an arm over the shoulders of the still slightly quivering first year, "this wonderful got scared, and boggarts love..."

"Fear!"

"Exactly! So it tried to get out. Mission accomplished."

"I was bait!" cried Bobbie indignantly, figuring out his part in the scheme.

"Yep." agreed Sirius happily.

"That's not very nice." complained the boy, "You really shouldn't pick on other students like that. Especially not ones who are younger than you."

The two fifth years took an unconscious step back. Keeping his eyes on the boy in front of him Sirius asked, "Is it just me or is the kid channelling the old deer's redhead?"

"It's not just you," agreed Peter, before gathering his courage, "Bobbie. We have our reasons and your help will not go unrewarded. Er."

"You promised me ten sickles." Bobbie crossed his arms determinedly,

"Yes...yes. Er." Peter rummaged through several pocket before pulling out a small wallet, "Here."

Bobbie counted the small change with a careful eye, before giving the pair a glare worthy of the aforementioned Lily Evans and exiting the dusty room.

There was a moment of silence before Peter said mournfully, "I was saving those sickles for the next Hogsmeade trip."

xxxxxx

Outside the History of Magic classroom Remus was scribbling madly on a scrap of parchment as Lily paced across the corridor ranting about something; he had given up listening a while ago, only keeping an ear out for pauses when he agreed with whatever she was saying. He was trying to come up with a problem which was hard, but not too hard, that the pair of them could give to Snape with the hope of boosting his self confidence. If he could solve it when Lily, the other potions extraordinaire, was unable to then hopefully Severus would feel like he was appreciated for being good at something.

"...and then he goes and does something like this, which is completely unlike him, and it just doesn't seem very likely if you ask me. I mean he's always _hated_ Severus no matter what anyone said to him, even though it's perfectly obvious that he's a really nice guy who is just misunderstood, and who wouldn't be if they were picked on by the most _popular_ guys in school." Lily was still ranting, gesturing wildly as she strode up and down, "It's not like anyone can get that close to him, what with everything that goes on, it really makes it very hard to see the person underneath. I mean its not like you can deny that he's cute, it's just his attitude towards..."

"Wait. What? Are you still talking about Snape?" interrupted Remus, taking a break from scribbling.

"No! Alright Severus is kinda cute, but not really." Lily frowned as she looked into the middle distance, thinking hard, "He's just not really my type."

"Snape?"

"Potter!"

"Oh." confused, Remus went back to trying to understand the reaction of asphodel with henbane.

Looking down at one of her best friends, Lily felt that small wave of sympathy which she so often felt these days towards Remus. He had had so much to contend with in his life already, and it really wasn't fair that he wasn't able to share it all with anyone. Having to deal with his condition alone every month; she couldn't imagine what it was like.

Though he did have good friends to help him afterwards, which was something she admired the other three Marauders for. Not that she would ever tell them that. It was one of the endearing qualities of Potter, that he always stuck by his friends no matter what.

"Argh!" she cried under her breath, everything was coming back to_ that boy_ at the moment.

Sneaking a look over Remus's shoulder Lily saw that he was struggling on something she had been to Severus with last year, but as she watched him try to figure out the reactions she saw a possiblity.

"Remus? Can I just...?" she asked before gently lifting the paper and quill from his hands, sinking to the floor next to him, "If you swap that with that, and add in a drop of salamander blood there, you should end up with..."

As he watched Lily doing things he couldn't hope to understand with his potions idea, Remus stretched, feeling his joints pop as he straightened out from his cramped position. The full moon having passed he was feeling much more relaxed, knowing that he wouldn't have to face the wolf again for another month. Though having the others there in their Animagus forms had seemed to help, he had certainly ended up with less cuts and bruises this moon just gone than previous occasions.

"Done!" exclaimed Lily,

"Let's have a look,"

Lily passed over the parchment, and Remus starred in amazement; there was no way he could understand any of it.

"Are you sure this _has_ a solution?" he inquired tentatively, not being able to see a single place to start, let alone solve the complex equations laid out before him.

"Of course it does." Lily scowled, "You have to add another ingredient and three counter-clockwise stirs there, put half an ounce less of henbane in then, simmer rather than boil here, and..."

"Okay, okay. I believe you." Remus had never fully understood potions, though he fully appreciated the effects they caused, "There's a really difficult solution."

"Just in time too." Lily remarked, as the bell for the end of lunch rang.

A couple of minutes later and two groups of Slytherins and Gryffindors came down the stairs which led to the dungeons and the potions classroom; why they were always together for so many of their classes when they had such a violent rivalry why probably locked within the silver head of Dumbledore.

James, who had been left alone for a fair portion of lunch, preparing himself for the last class of the day, came cantering down to meet Remus and his flame haired love.

"Hey." he breathed out, grinding to a halt with a grin on his face.

"Hey." replied Lily suspiciously, grins on any Marauder's face was bad news in her books.

"You'd never guess what I've just seen."

"I give up." Remus responded mechanically before James had opened his mouth again.

"Guess!"

"I give up."

"Why should we guess? Surely you are just going to tell us anyway." Lily muttered.

"You can't give up, Moony! And I am not going to tell you if you don't guess oh goddess of the Sun." beseeched James, "Guess."

"Goddess of the Sun? Haven't you used that one before?"

"I give up."

"Moooony!"

"I give up."

James's incessant demanding attracted the attention of two other bouncy individuals who had joined the growing number of students waiting for potions to begin. Sirius had no idea why his best friend was so hyperactive, but he knew the monotone answer Remus was giving him all too well. Looping an arm around the buoyant Marauder, he grinned at the situation.

"I take it you saw something fascinating, Dear."

Elbowing Sirius for the name, James nodded excitedly, "Guess!"

"Not until you guess what I found." Sirius demanded.

"You found one?"

"Lost ten sickles doing it." grumbled Peter, unable to keep the smile off his face in spite of his loss.

"Where exactly are you keeping it?" Lily asked, figuring out that the pair had successfully found and captured a boggart.

"You don't want to know." assured Sirius.

"That is great news," James congratulated, "However, no one has guessed yet what exactly I saw. In fact no one has guessed. I demand a suggestion. Any suggestion."

The classroom door opened and the class began filing into the space, chatting quietly to each other as they unpacked their things and waiting for Professor Binns to float through the wall to bore them once more. However interesting the topic was the class could be certain that they would be bored before the lesson was over.

"Did you see yourself in a mirror and realise that you'll always look like an idiot with that hair?" Lily asked sweetly, pulling her quill from her bag.

Self-consciously smoothing down his untameable hair, James looked slightly ruffled at the response, much to the amusement of his friends.

"Actually I saw..."

"Quiet, please. Today we will be continuing with the second Giant taming expedition during the sixteenth century. Occurring in 1548, this expedition was marred from the beginning..." Professor Binns interrupted James, and the opportunity for sleep appeared.

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**Any review will do, feedback is always welcomed and replied to.**

**Thanks to the lovely beta, Half-Drowned Dracula, for removing all those nasty mistakes.**


	16. Charming

**Chapter Sixteen: Charming**

After History of Magic was the dreaded (at least on James' part) Charms, with the Slytherins. Why they were always together for so many of their classes when they had such a violent rivalry was probably locked somewhere within the silver head of Dumbledore. As they had expected Binns had drained the excitement out of the air, to the extent that even Sirius' normal grin had been replaced with an expression of dullness.

"Do you know how you're going to get the detention?" Peter asked James.

"I'm not going to." he replied sullenly.

"What? James Potter, are you backing out?" Lily demanded.

"No. I'm just not going to get a detention."

"Er, James, that does sound like backing out." said Peter.

Behind the three of them Remus and Sirius were talking. Or rather, Remus was talking and Sirius was vehemently shaking his head. Taking advantage of the diversionary conversation in front of him, Sirius sped up.

"What's this? Is poor Prongsy all scared of the big, bad Flitwick?" he mocked.

"Hey! I'm not scared, I just can't see why I should get a detention when I haven't deserved it." James explained.

"I'm sure there's _something_ you done that you haven't been punished for yet." murmured Lily.

"Then do something that deserves a detention. Or a round of applause. Or both." Sirius shrugged.

Joining the back of the queue into the Charms classroom, James thought about Sirius' advice. Meanwhile Remus had rejoined Sirius and was continuing his previous conversation, much to the wizard's annoyance.

"Look if you'd just tell me, then I wouldn't have to ask you again." he reasoned logically.

"I'm not telling you. It's a surprise. And - " Sirius poked a finger in the werewolf's chest, " - you wouldn't like it."

"That doesn't make sense. You can't know that I don't like it until you've told me so you'll have to tell me to find out that I like or dislike it but by that time you've told me and thus defeated the object of telling me that I wouldn't like where you've put it which makes you telling me the obvious course of action." Remus paused and took a deep breath, before concluding, "So you may as well just tell me where you've put the damn thing."

There was a moment of silence as the Marauders plus one ran the sentence through their heads again. After determining it did make sense, though only in the world of logical werewolves, Sirius gathered himself and did the only thing he could – stuck out his tongue.

"Good answer." commented Peter.

xxxxxx

Ghost-Severus scowled as he looked around and saw the chattering Marauders entering the room. He knew that they were the only ones who could see him for who, or what, he really was. He hadn't had a class with any of them so far, but now was his chance to observe them and ascertain if they were any threat to his existence.

Watching them making ribald jokes and teasing each other, they didn't seem to have an ounce of sense between them, nor had they noticed him. Snape turned back to the front of the class, reading the blackboard where the list of things the class had to accomplish that lesson was being written up by the tiny Professor Flitwick.

His frown deepened as he noted the practical elements of the lesson. So far he had only had theory-based classes, and so had avoided the problems of his lack of mortal magic. Glancing back the Ghost saw Potter and Black preparing something which would undoubtedly distract the class.

Good, he thought, that should keep them busy enough not to notice the change.

_Inside, the real Severus woke to the icy world. He had been growing less and less aware of his surroundings; spending more time asleep than awake. _

_Where before there was a constant red line on the horizon, now he could pick out individual fires, one of which burned a brighter orange-red than the rest. Staring at it, he was reminded of Lily's hair on a bright summer's day, when it seemed to light up the sunburnt land. Or an autumn morning when the leaves on the trees seemed to be trying to catch that vibrant colour._

_Suddenly all the fires flickered and the ghost version of himself walked into his view. The blue sparks of ice in his eyes were sharper and harder than before, and he seemed more real than previously._

"_It seems I'm going to need you after all." The Ghost intoned._

"_W-what for?" Severus said, the chill of the icy bonds biting deep into his chest._

"_Magic. What else?" sneered the Ghost, "I'm going to release you for a short while. Not completely, but just enough so that you can get us through this class. Then I can go back to real research."_

"_I won't do it. I'd rather stay here than help you!" Severus said defiantly._

"_Such a stubborn boy." mused the Ghost, "Tell me, Severus, what are you trying to defend? Look around, your hope is fading."_

_Severus felt himself being pushed forwards,out towards the real world. Blinking he found himself looking out of his own eyes at the Marauders. They were arguing amongst themselves, trying to get some piece of information out of Potter. Severus sneered, they would never be able to do that; there was nothing in James Potter's head worth mentioning._

_The Ghost's voice echoed in the back of his mind: "Even your enemies haven't noticed you're different."_

_With that snide remark Severus suddenly saw the situation differently. There they were, the infamous Marauders, laughing, arguing, the closest of friends, the best allies and worst enemies anyone could ask for. As long as they had been at Hogwarts Severus had known he could count on them to notice him, even if it was in the form of pranks and hexes. _

_He wasn't like the other Slytherins; a half-blood, tainted by Muggles, never fitting in with their groups. It was only his talent in potions that gave him an edge; without that he would be even more of a nobody._

_Saddened and depressed, Severus sank back into the icy world of his mind. There the ghost was waiting, a quiet look of smug superiority on his face._

"_Do this for me, and I'll see that you get the one thing you've always wanted." he said, _

"_To be noticed."_

xxxxxx

At the table at the back of the classroom Peter and Sirius had decided that the best way to cheer James up was to ask him what he'd seen in the Great Hall earlier. James, being James, had declared that unless they guessed, he wasn't telling.

So far they had had:

"Professor McGonagall dancing the Samba."

"Slughorn frowning."

"Bellatrix declaring her undying love for a Muggle-born."

"Hagrid wearing a tuxedo!"

and finally:

"A centaur." suggested Sirius.

"A what? Why would there be a centaur in the Great Hall?" asked James.

"Why wouldn't there be one?" responded Sirius.

"Quiet, please, everyone." called Professor Flitwick, "Today's aims are on the board, please collect a box from the front desk."

The four trooped up to the front desk and back.

"What are we supposed to be doing with these?" asked Peter.

"Making the inside larger than the outside." explained Remus.

"It's TARDIS time!" grinned Lily,

"Huh?" said James, who happened to be the closest to the love of his life (big surprise).

"Doctor Who?"

"I repeat my previous: Huh?"

"Never mind," she grumbled, "Wizards, not watching TV, hopeless. How can you not know Doctor Who?"

Sitting back down at the table Sirius turned to James and poked him.

"Are you going to tell us what you saw, then?" he asked.

"Since you ask so nicely," said James, motioning the other into a huddle, "I was just leaving the Great Hall when I almost ran into Professor Dumbledore, who was coming in from outside. He was with another man...Auror Moody!"

"Do you mean Alastor Moody? Renowned Auror, and all-time cool dude?" asked Sirius excitably.

"Yes. Anyway, thinking that this meeting would be rather interesting I hid and overheard their conversation." James said, "They were talking about the rise in numbers of Dark Witches and Wizards, and about one guy in particular. They didn't drop a name, but the way they were talking he's into some really bad stuff. 'Darkest of the Dark Arts', Moody said."

"You think this is that Dark Lord my...the Black's were talking about?" asked Sirius.

"What Dark Lord?" Remus interrupted.

"I'll fill you in later."

"Yes." James answered Sirius' question, "There's more though. Something about..."

"Mr. Potter, are you talking about the charm we are practising, or are you just talking? Hmm." Professor Flitwick squeaked.

James smiled disarmingly, and went back to his box, murmuring under his breath: "I'll tell you guys the rest later."

It was nearing the end of class when James earned his detention. Feeling slightly weird at not hiding his actions, he pointed his wand at the remaining pile of boxes on the front desk and muttered, "_Incendio!" _Immediately they caught fire, and started shooting sparks across the room as they exploded.

Professor Flitwick scurried from one place to another putting out the flames, looking like a panicking gnome as he did. In the end James wasn't sure if the Professor knew that he was the cause of the explosion, or if he got the detention because he laughed the loudest. Either way it was: "Detention, Mr. Potter. Tonight!"

xxxxxx

Outside the classroom Lily hurried through the cluster of students to catch up with Severus. She had taken the opportunity during James' distraction to write up the potions problem she and Remus had worked on, and now she was ready to confront Severus with it.

"Severus!" she called over the noisy chatter.

Hearing her, the ghost sighed. He had only just forced the real Severus back inside, and had no desire to deal with the girl he had feelings for. He tried to feign not hearing her and sped up his pace down the corridor, but she was deceptively quick and laid a hand on his arm as she caught up with him.

Trailing behind the pair at what Remus considered to be a safe distance (and since he had the most sensitive ears it was his judgement they relied on), were the four Marauders. Keeping a close eye on Lily and Snape, James was only half listening to the conversation going on behind his back.

"I'm just saying that it's a little strange that Moody comes to speak to Dumbledore now, that's all." Sirius was explaining.

"And I agree with you." Remus hesitated, "But don't you think that you're reading too much into the situation?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Simply put, I know more about this that you do." Sirius hissed.

"Then explain it to me. Please?" said Remus in a conciliatory tone.

"Does she have to do that?" James murmured as he saw Lily put her hand on Snape's arm.

"Do what?" asked Sirius, pointedly ignoring Remus.

Focusing on the task in front of her, Lily didn't hear the boys behind her. She knew that she had this one chance to boost Severus' self-esteem, and considering his behaviour had been normal in class she had hopes that he was still fighting. Maybe there was still hope for him yet.

"Severus? Did you not hear me calling?" she asked.

"Sorry, Lily. I was thinking about something." Snape apologised, trying to keep the sneer out of his voice.

"That's alright," she said lightly, "I was actually hoping that you might help me with something."

"Oh?"

"I was working on a potion recipe last night, but whatever I do I can't seem to make it have the right effect."

"Really."

"Yes. Would you mind working on it with me? See whether you can spot where I'm going wrong?" Lily asked, searching his face for a flicker of something to show that the real Severus was in there.

She couldn't see the ghostly version of Severus that the Marauders could, but she had been friends with Snape long enough that she knew when something wasn't right, even without the Marauders telling her. Normally he would be really enthusiastic (in a quiet, snide sort of way) about working on a potion with her, even if it was just theory.

"Well ..." Severus started.

_Confined back in the icy bonds the real Severus could see Lily just beyond his reach. The defiance which had flared up earlier against the ghost came back – there was no way he was letting anyone near _his_ Lily._

_He began to really struggle against his bonds, throwing everything he could against them. On the horizon the red fire flared high, changing the blue light to an eerie purple._

"... Argh!" the ghost finished, clutching his head as he felt his hold on the world slipping.

If the real Severus Snape broke free from the bonds he had placed on him, then the ghost would vanish completely. The chance of life fading from his grasp he pushed away from Lily, running down a passage with no care for what she thought.

"Severus! Where are you going?!" she yelled after him.

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**A/N: Sorry for the delay, but getting horribly ill will do that to chapters. However, we are nearing the end (sob) so you can expect excitement just around the corner. Don't forget to review now!**

**A/N2: P.S. Thanks to Drac for all her hard work!  
**


	17. Fear and Panic

**Disclaimer: Did I say it was mine? Cause it ain't.**

**Beta: Half-Drowned Dracula. Thank you.**

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**Chapter Seventeen: Fear and Panic**

"I don't understand what happened." worried Lily.

They had returned to the Gryffindor common room after dinner, and whilst James carried out his all-important detention they were discussing what had happened earlier. The fire was crackling merrily as Peter tried to toast crumpets (a difficult and specialist art), which had appeared from somewhere.

"I think it's a good sign." Remus said.

"How can it be a good sign? He ran away!"

"We don't have to put up with him anymore. I think that's a good thing." sulked Sirius. At James' insistence he had filled the others in on what he had learned at the Black family home, and was not happy about having the mysterious bubble he had built burst.

"If Severus, -" Remus shot a glare at Sirius as he sneered,

"- Snivellus -"

"- Severus," Remus continued with determination, "was no longer aware he would likely have not reacted at all. The very fact that the Ghost had such a strong reaction to just your presence is a good indicator that the real Severus is still very much alive."

"Goody." moaned Sirius.

"It _is _good, Sirius. I really don't see what you've got against him." Lily stated.

"It is very simple, m'dear." Sirius said, leaning forward, "He embraces the Dark Arts, just like my family. The family that treated me like something they'd scrape off their shoe, disowning me, and blasting me off the family tree. You could say I'm a little bitter about losing the only family I had, and am taking my anger out on Snivellus, but quite frankly anyone who involves themselves in the Dark Arts deserves what's coming to them. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to check on the boggart."

Striding through the common room Sirius snarled at a group of first years blocking his path before exiting via the portrait hole.

Back at the fireplace Remus sighed, he had dealt with Sirius in these moods before, and it was never pretty.

"What did I say?" Lily asked, confused.

"You just touched a nerve, that's all." Remus said, "Come on, Peter, we'd better go make sure he doesn't do something stupid."

"Er, yeah. That would be an idea. I really don't like Sirius when he's like this." Peter said, dropping his crumpet.

"Neither do the teachers." muttered Remus.

"What should I do?" Lily called, as the pair headed out of the common room.

"Wait for James!" Remus replied.

"Great."

xxxxxx

James was sitting in the Charms classroom de-charming pineapples. They only required a simple _Finite Incantatum_, but each dancing pineapple had to be taken care of individually. The perfect tedious task for those who earned detention.

Pinning down a waltzing fruit with one hand, James turned another magical disaster back into a tasty snack. Glancing up at Professor Flitwick, who was busily grading essays at his desk, he pondered how he was going to pose the question that was the ulterior motive behind this detention. James shook his head as he tried to catch a particularly lively pineapple; Remus had better watch out in the coming weeks, if it weren't for him James wouldn't be in this mess.

xxflashbackxx

"Alright, so we boost Snivellus' confidence and then hit the wee ghosty with a boggart, and what? He just goes _poof_ and we get the old greaseball back?" Sirius asked from his place in front of the fire.

"It's Severus, and not exactly." Lily replied, the tension evident in her voice. They had been working on a solution to Severus Snape's "ghostly problem", as James put it, for hours now and she was getting a little irritated with Sirius' constant snide remarks.

"What do you mean 'not exactly'?" sighed James. He was far too tired to even contemplate sweet talking the girl of his dreams, though he was also too tired to notice that she wasn't taking pot-shots at him anymore.

"Even if the ghost becomes truly afraid and Snape starts fighting for his life," answered Remus, "the ghost was summoned by us, which means _we_ have to send it back to the other side."

"And how, Moony, do we do that?" Sirius asked.

"I don't know."

The rest of the boys stared in disbelief; Remus admitting that he didn't know something was rare. James leaned in and, whispering, asked him if he was feeling alright. Remus, in reply, tilted his head in the direction of the moonlight streaming in through the window. The full moon was only just past, the wolf still close to the surface. Remus was always more prone to tiredness now, and this late night with the bickering between Sirius and Lily was wearing on his nerves.

"Right, so the wonderful Moony has no idea. Lily? Got any clues?" James stood up, trying to get some feeling back into his legs.

"Sorry. I know you've told me everything about that spell, but without the key term I don't know where to begin reversing it."

There was silence as they all contemplated the possibility that what they had done couldn't be reversed in time. Severus' life was on the line and the best they could come up with wasn't enough. The fire cracked sending up a wave of sparks, the logs settling as it died down, an unwanted omen.

"What about Professor Flitwick?" came the sleepy voice of Peter from where he was curled in a large armchair.

"What about him?" Sirius snapped, the fire's sudden burst of heat setting off the pain in his arm again. He was going to get Bellatrix for her curse, however long it took.

"He knows all sorts of charms. Couldn't he help?" Peter said, sitting up slightly.

"He could, but only if we wanted to get detention for the next twenty years!" barked Sirius.

"Actually, he might be on to something." said Remus, pulling one of the many pieces of parchment littering the floor towards him, "If we just knew the key term then I'm sure Lily and I would be able to figure out the reversal spell."

"And how are we going to find out the key term from the Professor without revealing what we've done?" James inquired, thinking that although twenty years detention was not cool, killing someone even accidentally led to only one place. Azkaban.

"That's the beautiful thing. The spell we used is loosely based on the fear charm." Remus looked around at the befuddled faces, "They have the same key term!"

"... I'm not seeing how this solves the problem." Peter said slowly,

"Don't you people listen in class?!" Lily exploded, "Next lesson we start working on fear charms!"

"Ohhh." chorused the three confused boys.

"So all we have to do is ask Professor Flitwick..." started Sirius,

"What the key term of the fear charm is. Yes." finished Remus.

xxendflashbackxx

It had all been downhill for James from there; the rest had decided that since he had nothing else to do, James would be the one to ask the question. James refused to tarnish his perfect rebel reputation, and so Remus had calmly suggested that he do it during detention when there was no-one else about.

Now here he sat, stopping pineapples dancing, trying to find a way to ask an academic question. It was all Remus' fault.

xxxxxx

Peter and Remus were hurrying down a corridor after Sirius when Remus ground to a halt. Peter, confused at the delay, turned round ready to ask what was going on. But before he could ask, Remus interrupted him.

"Where's the boggart?"

"Er."

"Peter," growled Remus lightly, "We could cut Sirius off by using the back passages if we knew where he was going. So ... where did you two put the boggart?"

"He told me not to tell you." muttered the ratty boy.

"And now I'm telling you to tell me." Remus stepped closer, using his extra inches to loom over the small boy, a glint of fierce yellow in his eyes.

"Ah. Okay." Peter agreed hurriedly, "Myrtle's bathroom."

"You put the boggart in the girls' bathroom?!" Remus exclaimed incredulously.

"Seemed like the safest place." Peter shrugged.

Remus took off down the corridor again, swerving down a dusty back passage that the Marauders had found early in their second year, Peter hard on his heels. Skidding round corners and through a tapestry filled with moths they emerged a few yards from the bathroom where Moaning Myrtle lived.

Opening the door cautiously they swiftly saw that though they had taken the short cut, Sirius had as well. His voice echoed in the cavernous bathroom, though he remained out of sight.

"I'm not going back. Never! Y-you can't ... you're not ..." he stuttered in a strangled cry.

Slipping into the bathroom Remus found himself accosted by a real ghost, unlike the one they had been dealing with inside Severus this one had previously had a life before death took her.

"Oho, you should see what he's up against." Myrtle whooped gleefully, "Who'd have thought it!"

"Thought what?" Remus asked.

"You know, if he dies, he's welcome to join me here." the ghost said wistfully before swooping back round the corner to watch Sirius battle with the unknown assailant.

Muttering under his breath about weird ghosts, and dragging a reluctant Peter after his with one hand, Remus pulled his wand out and headed after Myrtle.

As he did there came a trailing cry from Sirius, "Won't! Riddd..."

There, in front of a large wooden box, Sirius was crouched on the floor his arms held defensively in front of him, all thoughts of spells now forgotten. The creature he was so afraid of made Remus reflexively take a step backwards. A steel-haired witch, formidable in her bearing, a ghastly look of hate upon her face, was bearing down upon Sirius, her wand firing sparks of a lurid green.

Behind him, Remus heard a gasp followed by a soft mutter, "His mother!" Remus took another look at the woman. Sure enough there was a family resemblance between her and Sirius. Without warning Peter ran out from and placed himself between the boy and the boggart. The lightening fast change was hard to follow, but in an instant no longer was Mrs. Black standing in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Now Professor McGonagall was instead.

Peter stood in front of Sirius, wand held at the ready, but as Professor McGonagall turned her gaze upon him he felt every instinct in him make him freeze. Bad enough that she was a figure of authority, but for her animagus form to be one that happened to like eating small furry rodents made the Professor his worst fear.

A cat's purr was steadily growing in the room, and Peter tried to remember what he was doing. But the fixed stare of the hunter before him made his knees tremble and his mind go blank. Then the woman took a step back, a slightly confused look upon her face and in a flash of light she was gone. Instead there floated a full orb flooding the room with bright light.

"_Riddikulus_." stated Remus firmly and the moon turned pink.

Peter giggled slightly, breaking out of his daze. Remus was now crouched in front of the box, having forced the boggart back inside, locking it firmly.

"You alright?" he asked.

"I think so." Peter said, shaking his head as if to clear it of cotton wool.

"What about Sirius?" came an unexpected voice.

xxxxxx

James breathed a sigh of relief as the last pineapple ceased tap-dancing. Packing it away into the box with the rest of them he secured the lid and went to tell Professor Flitwick he had finished.

"Good. Thank you," said the Professor before remembering the boy was in detention, "I hope you've learned your lesson. No more messing around in class, hmm?"

"No, sir." James said insincerely.

"Off you go them," dismissed Flitwick.

"Actually, Professor," James paused, "There was something I wanted to ask."

He picked at a splinter in the side of the Professor's desk, clearly uncomfortable. Flitwick put aside the essays he was marking and focussed his attention on James, saying, "This isn't to do with that Map of yours is it? Because you know that although it is an amazing example of complicated Charms, I really can't let you have it back."

James' head snapped up, he had thought the Professor had forgotten about the Marauder's Map, confiscated last year and now residing in Filch's office.

"No, sir. It's not about that," he said honestly, glad that the Professor hadn't told anyone else about the map, "Actually, it's about Charms work."

"Oh?" said Flitwick curiously,

"I was reading through the textbook for next lesson," James said rapidly, ignoring the disbelieving look on the small Professor's face, "and I was wondering about that key term of the Fear Charm. Is it just the opposite of the Cheering Charm's?"

"Not exactly," replied Flitwick in a surprised tone, "You see the Cheering Charm works on the basis of emotional alteration, whereas the Fear Charm induces a physical state of panic. It's this physical state which then effects the emotions."

Flitwick was warming up to his topic now, as he reflected that he rarely had the chance to discuss high level charms work, his voice getting more high pitched as he continued, "That's why the Fear Charm is more complicated that the Cheering Charm; inducing panic means altering many different biological components. In fact, the key term of the Fear Charm works on many levels at once ..."

"What is it, sir?" James interrupted, "The textbook didn't say."

"Didn't it?" Flitwick squeaked, almost toppling off his chair, "_C__onturbatio_, I think, yes, C_onturbatio_. You know, if you are really interested in this I have a book you should read. Let me get it for you."

xxxxxx

James skidded to a halt outside the portrait of the Fat Lady having finally escaped from Flitwick's charming conversation. Panting out the password he scrambled through, searching for the rest of the Marauders.

Lily looked up at his noisy entrance and immediately went over to him, ignoring the whispers about her changed attitude towards the prankster.

"Did you get it?" she demanded, folding her arms as she stood in front of his out of breath form.

"Yes. Where's Remus and Sirius?" he replied,

"Sirius got into a huff and walked out, the others went after him." she explained.

"Right. Great. Er...he didn't say where he was going, did he?"

"To see the boggart." Lily quoted.

Turning back round James raced out of the common room, Lily hot on his heels asking where he was going.

"What was the point of coming in if you were just going out again?!" the Fat Lady called after him.

xxxxxx

Bursting into the girls' bathroom on the second floor James and Lily were confronted with the sight of a pink moon being forced into a box by Remus, whilst Sirius and Peter looked on, both wearing shell-shocked expressions.

"You alright?" asked Remus, turning to Peter.

"I-I think so," Peter replied, shaking his head.

"What about Sirius?" Lily asked, going over to the slumped boy and placing a light hand on his shoulder, "Are you alright?"

James glared at Peter and Remus as he hissed, "What happened? Was that the boggart?"

Peter nodded, gulping at James' fierce look. Considering the fact that Sirius and James now lived together it was no surprise that he was highly protective of the mutt. Put that together with a boy who just finished an uncomfortable task, and you got one pissed off James Potter.

"What were you thinking letting that out?! Or were you just not thinking? As usual." James snarled, striding over to the mousy boy, "Some friend you are."

"I didn't...I wouldn't..." started Peter, quivering as a knot of anger unfurled itself in his middle. He was always getting put down by his _friends_, always told that he couldn't do things.

Before he could gather his courage to argue back against the person he had looked up to for years, Remus laid a firm hand on James' arm.

"James. Stop it." he growled, "Now."

Immediately James backed off, recognising that no nonsense tone in his friend's voice. He ran a hand through his hair, an uncomfortable silence stretching out.

"I-I'm alright." a shaky voice shattered the tension.

Lily was helping the owner of the voice, Sirius, up from where he had been slumped, an understanding look in her eyes.

"You sure?" she asked gently.

Sirius shot her a look of disbelief and annoyance, with a hint of a thank you in the depths of his eyes.

"It-it'll take more than a measly boggart to stop Sirius Black." he said, his voice growing in strength.

"Here." said Remus pulling out some chocolate from his robes, "You should eat this."

"You...you're giving me some of your chocolate?!" Sirius gasped, vocalising the looks of surprise that appeared on all the Marauder's faces.

"Just this once."

"Ha! Thanks, Moony." Sirius barked, taking the chocolate and wolfing it down.

There was a pause as everyone collected themselves, the only sounds echoing in the vaulted chamber being the gentle moans of Myrtle crying softly in her U-bend. The light filtering through the window was a patchy peach as the sun began to sink below the horizon, and the distant hooting from the Owlery could just be made out by Remus.

Sirius finished the chocolate, looked around at the other four and asked, "What are you all doing here anyway? Don't you have detention?" he pointed to James.

"I did." James answered,

"Did you get the term?" Remus said quickly,

"Yep."

"... Well?"

"Cont...cont...Hold on." James paced, trying to remember the pronunciation, "_C__onturbatio_!"

"You're sure?" Lily asked, unimpressed with his memory.

"Yes." said James firmly, glaring at the girl.

There was a short battle of glares between the pair, which was remarkably restrained considering the usual hexes which went flying from Lily when she was in the same room as her erstwhile tormentor. Remus' eyes flicked between them and a very small sly smile slid onto his face for a moment. If nothing else came out of this venture at least he'd be able to stop undoing Lily's jinxes.

"Right then," Sirius said, not noticing the considering look Lily sent James' way as his head turned, "Shall we get on with saving the greasy git's life?"

Mildly embarrassed looks were thrown around as Lily and Remus went to work on the reversal spell, whilst the others headed out of the bathroom to search for the aforementioned boy.

* * *

**A/N: Here it is at last, the penultimate chapter. Sorry for the delay, sometimes life gets in the way. I'd love to hear what you like or didn't like about the story so far, and whether you think the Marauder's will truly save their enemy. **


	18. Fear, Love and Promises

**Chapter Eighteen: Fear, Love and Promises**

Hiding in the unused dungeon classroom, the Ghost struggled within himself; fighting to keep himself alive. The stresses of the day had been too much for him, and he desperately need time to recoup and find a way to secure himself in the life he had stolen.

Working feverishly he pulled out bottles and boxes filled with potions ingredients; the only magic that both the dead and the living could perform. Plants existed wherever you were.

He was in the middle of crushing scarab shells when the door burst open. Spinning, the Ghost's eyes widened as he took in the sight of his creators. All four of the Marauders were standing in the doorway, Potter and Black carrying a chest between them.

"It's time for you to leave, mate." Sirius said as they put down the chest.

"What are you talking about?" sneered the Ghost, imitating Severus at his best.

"We know what you are, and since we're the ones who summoned you we're the ones who are going to put you back on the other side of the veil." stated James.

"With what?" asked the Ghost, "There's no way to send me back. _He_ is bound and will never be released again. You cannot win."

"That's where you're wrong."

"No! I won't leave!" cried the Ghost, summoning all his powers of death into the room.

Peter looked around fearfully as the temperature in the dungeon started to drop sharply; his last experience with the monster before them was quite enough for him. If only it weren't their enemy.

"Warming charms!" yelled Remus, leaping into action.

The boys started firing off charms, at themselves, and at the room in general. If the temperature dropped too much they would all freeze to death, and that looked to be coming far too quickly by the way the frost was creeping over the stones.

"Can we release it yet?" shouted James over the screams of the Ghost.

"Everyone get behind the chest!" instructed Sirius as he poised himself over the lock, ready to release the boggart within.

"You'll never escape!" yelled the Ghost, leaping for Sirius.

The others fired spells at the ice-blue Severus Snape as he hurtled towards the vulnerable boy. But it was too late; Snape grabbed Sirius and pulled him over, away from the chest in the centre of the room.

"Stop!" roared James, flinging out his arms, cutting off the spells of Remus and Peter.

"Let me live," commanded the Ghost, "Or he dies."

Slowly his grip tightened and frost spread out on Sirius' skin, slowly freezing him.

"Let him go." James said lowly.

"Let me live!" the Ghost insisted.

Trapped in the grasp of the ghostly Snape, Sirius felt the frost travel up his arm, the feeling in it becoming strangely separated from him as it did. More threateningly, he could feel the hand around his throat begin to chill; if the Ghost wanted he would be dead in moments. As he grew colder his mind felt as if it were drifting away from his body. It felt drowsy and calm, like he was floating on the sea staring up at the sun; nothing mattered anymore.

"Sirius!" Remus whispered, as the boy's scent began to fade.

Sirius heard his name, and something in him snapped. No way was he going to go easy. Certainly not to some Snape pretender! Clawing his way back he forced himself to speak.

"Do it!"

A quick shared glance and all three boys threw themselves back into the fray. James and Remus shot off powerful warming spells, aimed at Sirius. Peter dove for the chest, lifting the latch and heaving back the lid before diving out of the way of the irate boggart.

Across the room the Ghost staggered under the force of the spells, but before he could recover something materialised in front of him. An elderly woman with grey hair and a proud look stepped forward in front of the limp Sirius and confused Ghost.

"_Stains of dishonour, filthy half-breeds," _she hissed,

Backing away from the insane woman the Ghost stared blindly.

"_Blood traitors, children of filth!" _the woman was screaming now.

Flinging Sirius from his grasp the Ghost focused all his powers of cold and death on the new threat. He was so close to gaining his freedom; his life!

As Sirius hit the ground and slid across the icy floor the woman shuddered, and started to melt.

"Sirius!" Remus stepped forwards, only to be held back by James.

"If we distract it, it might change again. We've got to get rid of that thing once and for all!"

The melting figure solidified and showed itself to have altered not into one thing, but two. Standing in front of the Ghost, who was still trying to freeze it, were James and Lily, arms entwined around each other. The pair were staring into each other's eyes, clearly oblivious to anything else going on around them.

The Ghost looked wildly from side to side, his powers fading, searching for a way out of the trap he suddenly found himself in.

Slowly the pair kissed, and the Ghost screamed.

_Severus woke sharply, gasping for air as he surfaced from his nightmare. He'd been dreaming about Potter and Lily. Calming he tried to stop shaking, but it wouldn't stop. Looking up, he realised why; it wasn't him that was shaking. It was the icy world he was trapped in. Shuddering and shattering, the frozen wasteland cracked like broken glass._

_In front of his frost rimmed eyes the ghost flickered in and out of existence, it's head thrown back in a parody of a scream. There was no sound aside from the breaking of the ice, the endless creak and groan which plagued his waking moments._

_Straining against the thinning bonds which held him, Severus pushed his mind and magic forwards. If he was to escape this madness then now would be the perfect time. With the ghost occupied there was no one to stop him. The thought of Lily and Potter floated into his mind again, but he pushed in roughly away. The Lily he knew would _never _go out with Potter._

"_Stop!" the Ghost pleaded, his voice like the crash of ice into the sea, pushing Severus back into the bonds for a moment, "Together we can overcome this."_

_Severus ignored the cry and worked harder against the slick water that encased his arms and legs, a creak from below spurred him on as the frozen pond began to thaw. With an almighty snap the bonds around his left arm broke and he reached immediately for his wand trapped within his robes. _

"Reducto!_" he shouted, blasting away the last of the ice surrounding him, praying silently that he wouldn't get hurt in the process._

_Thrown back by the spell, Severus picked himself up from the still icy ground and watched as the centre of the pond thawed completely. Looking round he saw that the red fire on the horizon was larger, taking up nearly a quarter of the view. The thought of Lily again filled his mind, and as it did the fire flared up. At the same time the ghost let loose an ear-splitting cry, shaking the foundations of the world._

_Thinking quickly Severus started to pull all his precious memories of Lily to him, the fire building both in his heart and on the horizon as his love for her filled him._

"_She'll never love you!" the Ghost hissed venomously, materialising fully into the thawing world, "You'll always be nothing but a _freak_ to her."_

"_You know nothing about her." Severus replied, remembering the first time he ever saw her. Flying high from the swings in the local playground; even then he had thought she was the most beautiful thing in the world._

_The fire burned hotter and brighter, until Severus had to squint away from the light that filled the world. It melted away the ice completely, and when Severus could look again he saw that the landscape had turned back into the small park he knew to be his true mental home. There in one corner was a set of swings, the pond now rippling with silver light, and wildflowers underfoot. The echo of the summer day when he met the girl of his dreams._

_The ghost looked out of place now, its blue tinged skin and glassy eyes betraying its waning power. On its knees, crouched but still fighting for life, the ghost fixed him with a deathly stare._

"_You cannot beat me alone." it promised._

"I'm not alone." Severus said, his voice rough in the classroom as he lay collapsed on the floor.

James and Remus were startled; they had been watching aghast as the ghostly Snape writhed and fought with himself on the floor, ice forming and then vanishing under his hands. Now Snape seemed more solid, more his normal self, than he had in the past few days. Hearing him declare that he was not alone made James wonder exactly how aware the Slytherin was on what was going on in the real world.

Remus took a step forwards, flicking a glare at both his conscious friends. "You're not alone." he said firmly, raising his wand.

The two other boys echoed his movement and prepared to free Severus Snape from the twisted spell they had inadvertently put him under. Focusing on the waxy face before them, looking past the pair of lovers, all three pointed their wands and spoke the reversal incantation.

No blinding light emerged, no sound of snapping bonds or booming doors as the ghost was forced back into the twilight realm. In short, nothing happened.

A confused Remus shook his head in disbelief; he had been so sure that it would work. Turning to James, ready to ask if he had acquired the correct incantation he spied the real Lily hovering in the doorway.

"I think you need all four of you." she said numbly, the body-bind James had put her in to stop her coming after them still wearing off.

"That's a problem." James muttered, not looking at Lily but at the unconscious Sirius lying on the floor.

"Not really." Lily said, stepping into the room, "I should do just as well as Black."

Careful not to slide on the waterlogged floor she took her place between Remus and Peter, twirling her wand in her fingers. Then her eyes lit on the boggart, and pseudo-James and Lily's kissing forms. Her jaw clenched, though whether out of anger or something else it was hard to tell. Fixing her emerald eyes firmly on Severus she raised her wand.

"Shall we?" she said in as light a tone as she could manage.

_Slowly the spirit stood, and faced the real Severus. Sneer matched sneer, two sets of robes snapped in the wind that rose around them, fierce blue eyes met implacable black. The park became a little darker, but though a chill grew in the air no ice formed._

"_You think that is only my fear?" the Ghost said snidely, "Love may conquer even death, but without her love you have nothing to fight with. You fear losing her more than death."_

"_I will never lose her." Severus half prayed._

"_What happens when she leaves you for another. For _Potter_. You'll have nothing!" the Ghost spat, ignoring Severus' words, "With me gone you have no chance of keeping her. You have no power! Not even with the Dark Arts could you find a way of making her truly love you."_

"_I'll find a way. She will love me!" Severus sneered, the rage he felt at the harsh words boiling close to the surface, "I will find stronger allies than death!"_

"_No one is stronger than death." _

With a hope and a prayer the three Marauders and Lily Evans spoke the words that would drive out the spirit and restore Severus Snape. This time it worked.

Lightening flashed in the room, sparking from four wands, arching through the boggart, tearing it to shreds. A deep boom echoed in the underground space, seeming to collect in the corners of the room, focusing inwards and growing louder and louder.

Soon the students had to cover their ears as the noise rocked the tables and chest. It wormed its way into their bones until they could no longer just her it, but could feel it as well. James knew that even if he tried to speak now he wouldn't be able to hear himself, let alone get a message to the others. Looking over at Remus he could see pain on the werewolf's face; with his more sensitive hearing the noise must be nearly overwhelming.

Then, as suddenly as it had started the sound vanished, leaving a numb feeling in the air. James shook his head, trying to clear it of the ringing but to no avail.

"Everyone alright?" he asked, his voice sounding strangely hollow to himself.

A groan in the corner indicated Sirius had been woken by the light and sound. Affirmations, shaky but there, came from the others; Remus looking like he had a migraine brewing.

With the Gryffindors accounted for, James looked over at Snape's collapsed body. He was a mess of ill-fitting black robes and greasy hair, not a sign of ghostliness anywhere. It had worked.

_Inside his mind Severus stood up carefully, wincing as he felt the pain of being thrown halfway across his mental landscape. Whatever had happened, the malevolent feeling was now gone. He had no idea what had happened for the past few days. Strange dreams of ice flitted into his mind and were banished. _

_Yet somehow Severus was left with a feeling of mild panic; he felt as if he had no choice now. He had to act, he had to get enough power that Lily couldn't say no._

xxxxxx

Two weeks later Severus was walking across the grounds towards the Herbology greenhouses when he spotted Potter and his gang. Things had been strained between them ever since he had found them in his private potions lab. They had tried to convince his that he had been possessed, but Severus knew better.

Black was laughing at some joke Potter had told, his head thrown back, that bark like laugh torn from his throat. Anyone would think he was a dog! Severus sneered and hurried on, they were studying the more deadly poisonous plants today, and he didn't want to miss a moment.

Remus watched as Snape strode over to the greenhouses; there was something markedly different about him since the whole ghost incident, but then it was to be expected. That type of event would leave a mark on anyone. Shrugging he walked on, heading back up to school with his friends.

"Yo! Remus, James here is still missing a nickname. Your thoughts if you please." Sirius grinned, throwing an arm around the werewolf.

"Firstly, 'Yo'? When did you become a pirate?" Remus teased, "Secondly, what about your nickname?"

"Well, m'heartie, I seem to 'ave acquired the aka of 'Padfoot' ever since I twisted me ankle saving Snivellus and 'ad it in bandages for t'day." Sirius raised an eyebrow, "I personally am hurt that ye 'ave not noticed, m'dear Moony."

Remus threw a beseeching glance at James, mouthing 'Help'. James just shrugged, he knew all too well that Sirius would be stuck on pirate mode all day, and didn't really mind. In fact he was contemplating joining him. He ran a hand threw his hair as he listened to the canine pair tease each other, trying to get that perfect 'just off a broom look' that attracted most girls. But not...

"LILY!"

"What do you want, Potter?" Lily turned from where she was talking to some of her friends just outside the main doors.

Things had returned to normal after James' body-bind to stop her from 'getting hurt'; though James had seemed to be a little more considerate than normal.

"You to go out with me." James said, trotting over to her.

"Not a chance." Lily snapped back quickly without thinking. That was something else she wanted to avoid: thinking about James Potter. It seemed that the thoughts she'd had whilst working with him just wouldn't leave her alone, no matter how hard she tried to hate him again.

"Not even if I promise shower you with gifts, be nice to _all _your friends, and pay attention in ... er well ... at least listen in class?" James said with a look on his face that was supposed to be suave, but came across as arrogant.

"The day you become Head Boy is the day I go out with you, Potter. And since you will never stop pranking people, that day will _never_ come." Lily swore emphatically, knowing that pranking to Potter was like breathing to everyone else.

"Deal!" James declared, surprising everyone around, himself included. Shaking slightly, he held out his hand for Lily to take, and was even more surprised when she took it.

The tableau held for a moment; the Marauders looking on in shock on one side, Lily's friends on the other, and in the centre James Potter and Lily Evans shaking hands. Sirius shook his head as it broke apart, he could never in a million years have seen this coming.

"Mate, you're doomed." he told James as the boy returned to his friends.

"Caught on the prongs of Lily's logic." Remus consoled, patting him on the back.

"What have I done?" James muttered aghast, "I can't give up pranking! But ... it's Lily!"

"Doomed." reiterated Sirius as the four made their way indoors.

The sunlight was streaming in through the open doors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a break in the November curtain of grey. The castle rose from it's rocky cliff, lake dazzling birds with reflected light, and from the entrance hall there came the sound of Remus Lupin saying:

"I declare that from now on you shall be called 'Prongs', in memorial of your stupid actions."

"Thanks, Moony. That's so sweet." came the voice of James Potter.

Then laughter drifted up as the smell of roses percolated through the air from the group; friendship was good, but not as good as being Marauders.

The End

* * *

**A/N: Thank you to all those who have read and reviewed this little tale of mine. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. Major thanks go to: ZedPM, constantinexfreak, and of course my beta, Half-drowned Dracula. Your reviews and comments kept me going. **

**LB**


	19. Thank you

Thank you for reading.

If you liked this then you may also enjoy:

**Pureblood Dreams, Halfblood Nightmares**

A tale of broken friendship, new discoveries, and magical powers.

_Sirius and Remus have fallen out. Morrigan Le Fay needs to find a key. Snape wants to know everything. James just wants Lily to go out with him. But the Dark Lord is rising and getting what you want is nothing without what you need... _

"It's not about the pranks." Remus said, standing as the bell went for afternoon classes, "It's about..."

"Revenge." stated James, knowing the word would never cross his friend's lips, as he joined him walking towards class.

"What? No. Not that." Remus protested.

"Oh, it is, and you know it. He hurt you, so you hurt him, so he pranked you, so you pranked him. And now you're locked into a never ending cycle of more and more pitiful pranks until someone saves you." James sighed, leaning against the wall outside Transfiguration.

"Someone like you, you mean." Remus smiled, "Wouldn't that cause a few problems with a certain deal?"

"What's this? Are you planning on reneging on our pact, Potter?" Lily asked, overhearing their conversation from where she was standing behind the boys in the queue to get into the classroom, a note of glee in her voice and a hopeful look on her face.

"I would never do that to you, Lily. Denying you the opportunity of a date with yours truly, why that would be cruel." James said

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**Lilybet**

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